cftliaa...  Bk.m  \$)7i 
trTnity  college 

LIBRARY 


DURHAM,  NORTH  CAROLINA 


Rec’d  ...NOV.  1.41902 


■ 


^ -Vi  ^ VA 


AN 


Historical  Geography 

OF  THE 

United  States 

BY 

TOWNSEND  MAC  COUN 

£ 

REVISED  EDITION 


“ We  may  here  trace  our  country's  growth  to  the  very  elements  of  its  origin  and  consult 
the  testimonies  of  reality." — Jared  Sparks 


SILVER,  BURDETT  & COMPANY 

NEW  YORK  BOSTON  CHICAGO 


Copyright,  1889, 

By  TOWNSEND  MAC  COUN 


Copyright,  1890, 

By  TOWNSEND  MAC  COUN 


Copyright,  1892, 

By  TOWNSEND  MAC  COUN 
Copyright,  1901, 

By  SILVER,  BURDETT  & COMPANY. 


n l/Lfjo  sl 


PREFACE.  111.  "-i  3 


/V)  I 3 / H 


Historical  Geography  is  in  the  realm  of  Political  History. 
Its  province  is  to  draw  a map  of  a country  as  it  appeared  after 
each  of  the  different  changes  it  has  gone  through,  and  then  point 
out  the  historical  causes  which  have  led  to  the  changes  on  the 
map. 

This  I have  endeavored  to  do,  so  far  as  our  own  country  is  con- 
cerned, in  the  simplest  and  shortest  way,  always  employing  in 
each  series  of  maps  the  same  color  to  represent  the  same  thing, 
that  each  step  may  be  clearly  traced  by  the  eye.  If  it  shall  con- 
tribute in  any  measure  to  develop  or  stimulate  an  interest  in  our 
national  history  its  end  will  have  been  accomplished. 

I wish  to  acknowledge  the  assistance  rendered  by  many  of  our 
Historical  Societies  during  the  preparation  of  these  maps,  and  the 
courtesy  extended  in  the  use  of  the  sixteenth  century  map  draw- 
ings by  Justin  YVinsor,  in  his  “ Narrative  and  Critical  History  of 
America,”  and  to  R.  H.  Labberton  for  some  of  his  maps. 


New  York,  April  12,  1889. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2017  with  funding  from 
Duke  University  Libraries 


https://archive.org/details/historicalgeogra01  macc_0 


LIST  OF  MAPS 


DISCOVERY. 

Bate. 

1474. — Toscanelli’s  Map: 

European  idea  of  the  West  before  Columbus  sailed. 

1516. — Leonardo  Da  Vinci’s  Map. 

1530. — The  Sloane  Manuscript. 

1541. — Mercator’s  Map. 

1541. — Spanish  Exploration  of  New 
Mexico. 

1566. — Zaltieri’s  Map. 

COLONIAL  PERIOD. 

1606. — King  James  Patent. 

, r Virginia  Company. 

1620  "i  Council  of  Plymouth  for 
l New  England. 

1640. — Foreign  Claims  to  the  Atlan- 
tic Slope. 

1655. — Foreign  Claims  to  the  Atlan- 
tic Slope. 

1660. — English  Colonies  as  Consti- 
tuted by  their  Charters. 
Subdividing  the  Charters  of 
1609  and  1620. 

1664. — Grants  to  the  Duke  of  York. 

1650-1763. — French  Explorations  and 
Posts  in  the  Mississippi  Val- 
ley. 

1763. — English  Colonies  during  the 
French  and  Indian  War. 


Date. 

Drainage  Map  of  the  United 
States. 

NATIONAL  GROWTH. 

1:755—1763. — Spanish,  French,  and  Eng- 
lish Divisions  of  North  Am- 
erica during  the  French  and 
Indian  War. 

1763-1783. — Result  of  the  French  and 
Indian  War. 

1783. — Boundaries  Proposed  by  France 
for  the  United  States  at 
the  Second  Treaty  of  Paris. 

1783. — Various  Lines  discussed  at  the 
Second  Treaty  of  Paris. 

1783. — Maine  Boundary  : Finally  Set- 
tled by  the  Treaty  of  Wash- 
ington in  1842. 

1783-1801. — Result  of  the  Revolu- 
tion. 

1S01-1803. — Spain  Cedes  Louisiana  to 
France. 

1803-1821. — Result  of  the  Louisiana 
Purchase. 

1821-1845. — Result  of  the  Florida 
Purchase. 

1845-1848. — The  Annexation  of  Texas 
and  Acquisition  of  the  Ore- 
gon Country. 


VI 


LIST  OF  MAPS. 


Date. 

1S48-1853. — The  Result  of  the  Mexi- 
can War. 

1853-1900. — The  Gadsden  Purchase 
and  Russian  Session. 

1900.  — Territorial  Dependencies  of 
the  United  States. 

DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  COM- 
MONWEALTH. 

1775-1783- — The  Original  States  dur- 
ing the  Revolution. 

1783.  — The  Land  Claims  of  the  Orig- 
inal States. 

1787-  — The  Original  Public  Domain. 

Shows  also  the  Cessions  of 
the  States  to  the  General 
Government. 

1790.  — United  States. 

1800.  — United  States. 

1810.  — United  States. 

1820.  — United  States. 


Date. 

1830. — United  States. 


1840. — East  Half 

States. 

OF 

THE 

United 

1840. — West  Half 
States. 

OF 

THE 

United 

1850. — East  Half 
States. 

OF 

THE 

United 

1854. — West  Half 
States. 

OF 

the  United 

1861. — Civil  War.  TRe  Southern 
Confederacy. 

1863. — East  Half 
States. 

OF 

THE 

United 

1861. — West  Half 
States. 

OF 

THE 

United 

1870. — West  Half 
States. 

OF 

THE 

United 

1890. — West  Half 
States. 

OF 

THE 

United 

1900.  — West  Half 
States. 

OF 

THE 

United 

UNVEILING  A NEW  WORLD 


COLONIAL  PERIOD 


' 


1474. 


# 


1512.  1516. 


DA  VINCI,  1512-1516, 

AFTER  THE  DISCOVERY  OF  SOUTH  AMERICA  AND  FLORIDA. 


1541 


9991 


1606 


Copyright , 1892 , m M ac Coun' s Historical  Geography  of  the  United  States. 


.§3 


1640 


Copyright , 1892,  in  MacConn' s Historical  Geography  of  the  United  States. 


1655 


1660. 


flngfon 

A Swaaneudael 
\ 1634 

1660. 

ENGLISH  CHARTERS  & GRANTS 

Subdividing  Charters  of  1609  & 1620.  ggc 
| CO  TJNCIL  OF  PL  TMO  TJTH,  OF  NE  W ENG  LA  ND. 


Grants  by  the  Council : 

1621.  To  Sir  W.  Alexander,  Lordship  and  Barony  of 
New  Scotland  ( Nova  Scotia  ) 

1635.  To  Sir  W.  Alexander,  Pemaquid  and  Islands  of 
Long,  Nantucket  and  Martha's  Vineyard. 

1621.  To  Plymouth  Colony. 

1628.  To  Plymouth  Colony.  Kennebec  to  Piscataqua 
( (Maine.) 

□ 1629.  To  J.  Mason,  New  Hampshire. 

Royal  Charters  : 

1629.  To  Massachusetts  Bay  Colony. 

1639.  To  Sir  F.  Gorges.  Portion  of  Plymouth  Colon ■> 
(Maine.) 

j j Providence  Plantation. 


| Rhode  Island  Colony. 

Virginia  : 

1629.  To  Sir  R.  Heath,  Carolana. 

1632.  To  Lord  Baltimore,  Maryland. 

1649.  To  Lord  Culpepper  (of  the  Soil,  not  Junsdictixm.) 


Wne,  isss 


1664 


1763 


Copyright , 1S92,  iti  MacCoun' s Historical  Geography  of  the  United  States. 


NATIONAL  GROWTH 


1755-1763  A.  D 


Copyright,  ISO 2,  in  Mac  Conn's  Historical  Geography  of  the  United  States. 


1763—1783 


Copyright,  1892,  in  MacCoun's  Historical  Geography  of  the  United  States. 


1803-1821. 


Copyright , 1892,  in  McicCoun' s Historical  Geography  of  the  United  States. 


1821— 1845 


1845-1848. 


Copyright , 1802,  *:i  AlacCoun' s Historical  Geography  of  the  United  States. 


1848-1853. 


Copyright , 1892 , z>z  Mac  Counts  Historical  Geography  of  the  United  States, 


1853-1900. 


Si  Co,,  £ ugr's  and  IV 6,  N.Y. 


1900 


Territorial  Dependencies  of  the  United  States. 


DEVELOPMENT 


OF  THE 


COMMONWEALTH 


1775-1783 


the  IV, 


1790. 


Copyright,  1892,  in  MacCoun' s Historical  Geography  of  the  United  States. 


1810. 


mm 


if  France,  1803 


K,;  ^ H 1 

i « ! * :!)• 

!S  Vo  ; ,"§(' 

I 

5 \ : ui  :£) 

— — : , uL^'\A  < 

1820. 


1830. 


Copyright,  1802,  in  MacCoun' s Historical  Geography  oj  the  United  States 


1840 


1840. 


1850. 


1861—1865. 


Copyright,  1892,  in  MacCoun’s  Historical  Geography  op  the  United  States. 


1863. 


1861. 


1870. 


*0681 


*0061 


Copyright,  1896 , by  Silver,  Burdett  and  Company. 


HISTORICAL  GEOGRAPHY  OF  THE 
UNITED  STATES. 


EXPLANATORY  TEXT. 


» FINDING  A CONTINENT. 

(. Sixteenth  Century  Work.) 

The  last  half  of  the  fifteenth  century  was  one  of  great  change 
in  Europe.  England  had  given  up  her  claims  to  the  North  of 
France,  and  had  grown  strong  at  home  ; France,  under  Louis  XI., 
had  attained  about  the  same  limits  as  to-day  ; Spain,  under  Ferdinand 
and  Isabella,  was  the  leading  power  in  Europe;  Portugal,  shut  off 
from  the  rest  of  Europe,  “ a people  living  by  the  sea,”  naturally  led 
in  conquest  and  colonization  out  of  Europe  ; the  Pope  was  the 
head  of  the  Church  and  the  Church  ruled  all  kings. 

Scientific  men  had  long  maintained  that  the  world  was  round. 
Ancient  writers  (Ptolemy)  expressed  a belief  in  lands  beyond  the  Pil- 
lars of  Hercules.  Plato’s  “ Atlantis,”  the  “ Islands  of  the  Blest,”  and 
“ St.  Brandan’s  Isle  ” of  the  Middle  Ages  were  popular  beliefs.  The 
Portuguese  had  found  Madeira  (1419)  ; the  Fortunate  Islands  (Ca- 
naries, 1431)  of  the  ancients,  discovered  by  the  Carthaginians  but 
practically  lost  to  Europe  for  thirteen  hundred  years  ; then  the 
Azores  (1448)  and  Cape  Verd  Islands  (1454)  ; finally  the  way  to  India 
via  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  (1487). 

In  1474  (see  Map)  Toscanelli,  the  eminent  Italian  astronomer,  in 


2 HISTORICAL  GEOGRAPHY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

answer  to  a letter  of  inquiry,  sent  Columbus  a map  showing  China 
to  be  only  520  west  of  Europe  (it  is  231°).  This  was  the  most  intel- 
ligent scientific  idea  of  that  day.  By  faith,  eighteen  years  later,  Co- 
lumbus sailed  into  “The  Sea  of  Darkness  ” expecting  to  reach  China 
by  a westward  sail  of  3,000  miles  (it  is  9,000).  At  that  distance  he 
did  reach  islands  (1492),  which  he  called  San  Salvador,  Juanna 
(Cuba),  and  Hispanola  (Hayti).  Supposing  them  to  be  near  Zipanga 
(Japan),  islands  reported  by  Marco  Polo  to  be  off  the  east  coast  of 
China,  he  called  them  the  West  Indies,  their  inhabitants  Indians, 
and  then  returned  to  Europe  to  tell  of  a western  road  to  India. 

Then  the  spirit  of  discovery  ran  high  among  the  maritime  pow- 
ers. John  and  Sebastian  Cabot,  under  English  commissions,  first 
discovered  the  main  land  (1497)  near  Cape  Breton  and  sailed  south 
along  the  coast  probably  as  far  as  Cape  Hatteras. 

Cortereal  and  Denys,  both  French,  in  1501  and  1506,  reached  the 
coast  of  Nova  Scotia,  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence  and  Bacallaos  (New- 
foundland), a name  found  on  many  early  maps.  Twenty-five  years 
later  (1534),  Cartier  ascended  the  St.  Lawrence,  to  where  Quebec 
now  stands.  It  was  a century  later  before  either  England  or  France 
formed  a permanent  settlement.  Spain  continued  her  search  for 
gold.  The  northern  part  of  South  America  was  visited  (1598),  Cuba 
and  Hayti  were  made  a base  of  supplies  and  the  conquest  of  the  New 
World  began. 

In  1513,  Ponce  de  Leon,  landing  near  the  mouth  of  the  St.  John’s 
River,  gave  the  name  of  Florida  to  the  country,  then  coasted  along 
the  whole  peninsular  and  up  the  west  coast  as  far  as  270  30'.  (See 
Map  ascribed  to  Leonardo  da  Vinci  within  the  next  year  or  two, 
showing  South  America,  Florida,  and  Bacallaos  as  islands  on  the 
coast  of  Asia.)  - 

The  same  year  (1513),  Balboa,  climbing  the  mountains  of  the  Isth- 
mus of  Darien,  discovered  an  ocean  to  the  south  which  he  called  the 
South  Sea  (Pacific),  a name  which  it  retained  for  more  than  a century 
m all  the  early  charters. 

In  15x9,  an  expedition  under  Cortez,  sent  to  discover  the  strait 


HISTORICAL  GEOGRAPHY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  3 

supposed  to  exist  connecting  the  two  seas,  resulted  in  the  conquest 
of  Mexico. 

In  1523  the  search  was  continued  along  the  west  coast  of  Florida. 
It  was  found  that  no  strait  existed  but  the  geography  of  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico  was  determined.  Meanwhile,  other  Spaniards  were  tracing 
the  coast  from  the  St.  John’s  River,  northward  to  Cape  Race.  (One  of 
the  earliest  maps  showing  the  result  is  the  Sloane  Manuscript  of  1530.) 

All  attempted  settlements  proving  disastrous,  Philip  II.,  in  1561, 
declared  there  should  be  no  further  attempts  to  colonize  either  the 
Gulf  or  Atlantic  coasts.  (What  an  effect  this  decree  probably  had 
on  the  fate  of  this  continent  !)  The  next  year,  however,  when  French 
Calvinists  commenced  the  only  French  settlements  ever  attempted  in 
French  Florida,  Spain,  actuated  by  religious  zeal,  destroyed  them, 
and  as  a military  necessity  built  St.  Augustine  (1565). 

After  the  conquest  of  Mexico,  Spanish  explorations  were  made 
along  the  Pacific  coast,  but  it  took  sixty  years  to  reach  Cape  Men- 
docino, only  to  find  in  a harbor  near  by  a post  set  up  by  Drake  in 
1579,  claiming  the  country  for  England  and  Queen  Elizabeth.  Cor- 
onado, in  search  of  the  “ Seven  Cities  of  Cibola,”  explored  the  Zuni 
country  in  New  Mexico  in  1541,  and  penetrated  even  to  Quivira 
(supposed  to  have  been  in  Western  Kansas  or  Nebraska).  Later  the 
country  was  occupied  and  a mission  established  at  Santa  Fe  (1582). 
{See  ATaps  of  1541.)  The  generally  accepted  idea  now  came  to  be 
that  America  was  a continent.  This  is  expressed  in  the  Zaltieri 
Map  of  1566.  Thus  was  the  unveiling  of  the  New  World  to  Europe 
the  work  of  a hundred  years.  The  Sixteenth  Century  closed  with 
but  two  settlements  within  the  present  limits  of  Our  Republic,  St. 
Augustine  (1565)  and  Santa  Fe  (1582),  both  Spanish. 

GEOGRAPHY  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

{See  Drainage  Map.) 

The  boundaries  of  nations  are  usually  natural,  not  arbitrary. 
Mountains  obstruct  the  drift  of  population.  The  possession  of  the 


4 HISTORICAL  GEOGRAPHY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

mouth  of  a river  carries  with  it  the  country  it  drains.  A break  in  a 
mountain  chain  becomes  the  highway  of  travel.  Geography  deter- 
mines history. 

The  portion  of  North  America  occupied  by  our  Republic  is  di- 
vided into  three  geographical  parts  : 

The  Atlantic  Slope,  with  its  numerous  rivers  and  harbors,  open 
toward  Europe,  shut  off  from  the  rest  of  the  continent  by  the  con- 
tinuous Appalachian  range.  These  mountains — pierced  only  by  the 
Hudson  and  its  branch  the  Mohawk,  the  Delaware,  the  Susque- 
hanna, the  Potomac,  and  the  James — became  a natural  boundary, 
and  these  rivers  lines  of  historical  development. 

The  Pacific  Slope,  An  elevated  plateau  between  the  Rocky  and 
Sierra  Nevada  ranges,  with  an  abrupt  descent  to  the  sea.  Few  har- 
bors, and  but  two  river  systems,  the  Colorado  and  the  Columbia, 
both,  however,  historic. 

The  Creat  Interior  Plain,  stretching  from  the  Rocky  to  the 
Appalachian  Mountains,  from  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  to  the  far  north, 
netted  with  systems  of  waterways,  which  reach  its  remotest  corners, 
and  almost  mingle  their  headwaters. 

Into  this  plain  the  St.  Lawrence  and  its  chain  of  great  lakes  from 
the  Atlantic,  and  the  Mississippi  and  its  affluents  from  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico,  form  magnificent  highways,  inviting  the  coming  of  the  na- 
tions. To  the  southwest  is  the  Basin  of  the  Rio  Grande,  a natural 
boundary  ; to  the  north  the  Winnipeg  system  or  Arctic  Slope. 

THE  COMING  OF  THE  NATIONS. 

The  sixteenth  century  marked  the  rise  of  the  Spanish  power  in 
America,  but  the  great  battle  for  the  supremacy  was  not  to  be  fought 
by  Spain.  The  seventeenth  century  opens  with  new  contestants. 
The  Dutch  Republic  (William  of  Orange)  had  broken  the  Spanish 
yoke  in  the  Netherlands.  France  (Henry  of  Navarre)  had  freed 
herself  from  Spanish  claims.  With  the  destruction  of  the  Armada 
(1588)  England  (under  Elizabeth)  became  Mistress  of  the  Seas. 


HISTORICAL  GEOGRAPHY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


5 


Spanish  supremacy  died  with  Philip  II.  (1598).  Each  nation  hast- 
ened to  plant  its  colonies  on  our  shores. 

England,  in  1606,  granted  charters  to  two  commercial  companies, 
known  as  the  London  and  Plymouth  companies,  dividing  between 
them  “that  part  of  America  commonly  called  Virginia  and  other 
parts  and  territories  in  America”  lying  between  340  and  450  of  north 
latitude,  a narrow  strip  extending  inland  one  hundred  miles. 

The  Plymouth  Company  might  make  a settlement  anywhere  be- 
tween 38°  and  450.  The  London  Company  between  340  and  410. 
Neither  were,  however,  to  make  a settlement  within  100  miles  of  one 
already  made  by  the  other. 

It  was  under  this  patent,  known  as  “ King  James  Patent  of  1606  ” 
(see  Map , 1606),  that  the  first  permanent  English  settlement  in  this 
country  was  made  by  the  London  Company,  at  Jamestown  in  1607. 
This  patent  proving  unsatisfactory,  a new  charter  was  granted  to  the 
London  Company,  called  the  “ Virginia  Charter  of  1609  ” (see  Map,  1609- 
1620),  bounding  it  to  that  space  of  land  between  a point  200  miles 
north  and  south  of  Point  Comfort,  (340  to  40°)  extending  “west  and 
northwest  ” throughout  from  sea  to  sea. 

In  1620  the  king  reorganized  the  Plymouth  Company  as  the 
Plytnonth  Council  for  New  England,  extending  their  charter  limits  from 
the  line  of  the  Virginia  Company  (40°)  on  the  south  to  the  48°  on  the 
north  and  from  sea  to  sea.1 

Under  this  charter  the  Pilgrims,  separatists  from  the  Church  of 
England,  landed  at  Plymouth  (1620)  and,  as  Lodge  remarks,  “there 
founded  a democratic  republic  by  the  famous  compact  of  the  May- 
flower, the  vanguard  of  a great  column  bearing  a civilization  and  a 
system  of  government  which  was  to  confront  the  other  system 
founded  faraway  to  the  south  on  the  rivers  of  Virginia.” 

France  established  her  first  permanent  colonies  in  the  country  at 
Port  Royal  in  Arcadia  (1604),  Quebec  (1608),  and  Montreal  (1611). 
These  settlements  secured  the  control  of  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence 

1 Nearly  half  of  this  territory  was  claimed  by  the  French,  and  held  by  them  under  the 
Arcadia  Charter  of  1603  until  their  American  empire  fell  in  1763. 


6 


HISTORICAL  GEOGRAPHY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


and  the  highway  to  the  interior  of  the  continent.  Prevented  by  the 
hostile  Iroquois  nation  from  penetrating  south  of,  or  following  the 
Great  Lakes,  they  ascended  the  Ottawa,  crossing  its  portage  to  Lake 
Huron  as  early  as  1615  (five  years  before  the  landing  of  the  Pil- 
grims). The  next  few  years  led  to  the  discovery  of  Lake  Superior 
(1629)  and  Lake  Michigan  (1634).  Thus  did  France  reach  the  heart 
of  the  continent  when  Winthrop  was  founding  Boston  and  Lord 
Baltimore  was  planting  St.  Mary’s  on  the  Chesapeake. 

Holland  took  possession  of  the  Hudson  River  Valley.  A settle- 
ment was  made  at  New  Amsterdam  (New  York),  on  Manhattan  Island, 
in  1614  and  one  at  Fort  Orange  (Albany)  in  1615.  Trading  posts 
were  pushed  east  to  the  Connecticut,  west  along  the  Mohawk, 
south  to  Delaware  Bay.  ( See  Map , 1640.)  The  colony  was  entirely  a 
commercial  one,  admirably  well  planted  on  two  of  the  great  rivers 
which,  penetrating  the  mountains,  were  later  to  become  historic  lines 
of  emigration  and  traffic  to  the  West.  A commercial  supremacy  was 
established  thus  early  which,  on  account  of  geographical  reasons,  has 
always  been  retained,  though  it  has  been  a Dutch  Municipality,  an 
English  Royal  Province,  an  American  Commonwealth. 

Sweden,  then  at  the  height  of  its  power  under  Gustavus  Adolphus, 
also  had  its  colonial  policy.  Forming  settlements  on  both  sides  of 
the  lower  Delaware  she  disputed  its  possession  with  the  Dutch.  But 
a Swedish  State  in  the  New  World  was  not  to  be  realized. 

When  New  England  pushed  the  Dutch  back  from  the  Connecti- 
cut River  in  1650  to  the  Hudson  Valley  the  Dutch  retaliated  by 
seizing  the  Swedish  settlements  on  the  Delaware,  and  Swedish  rule 
in  America  disappears  with  the  year  1655.  ( See  Map , 1655.) 

EARLY  ENGLISH  COLONIES. 

( How  Our  States  Cojnmenced.') 

England  never  recognized  the  validity  of  the  French  and  Dutch 
claims,  though  Holland,  a Christian  nation,  had  previously  so  located 
its  settlements  as  to  confine  the  New  England  sea  to  sea  charter,  made 
in  1620,  to  very  narrow  limits. 


HISTORICAL  GEOGRAPHY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


7 


The  Virginia  Company  and  Council  for  New  England  could  issue 
grants  within  their  charter  limits,  but  only  a charter  from  the  Crown 
could  confer  powers  of  government. 

The  groups  of  northern  and  southern  colonies  were  within  and 
followed  the  geographical  limits  of  the  Virginia  and  New  England 
charters  of  1609  and  1620. 

Division  of  New  England. 

(See  Map , 1660.) 

Plymouth  Colony.  The  Pilgrims  when  they  landed  at  Plymouth, 
in  1620,  did  so  unintentionally,  having  expected  to  go  farther  south. 
They  remained  without  authority,  obtaining  from  the  Council  for 
New  England  the  following  year  “ a roving  patent,”  that  is,  power  to 
settle  without  prescribed  limits. 

In  1628  a grant  was  made  them  of  the  Maine  country,  between  the 
Piscataqua  and  Kennebec  Rivers,  extending  inland  120  miles.  Then 
a new  patent  was  given  embracing  the  Cape  Cod  country,  bounded 
west  by  a line  north  from  the  mouth  of  the  Narragansett  River,  and 
north,  by  an  east  and  west  line  from  Cohasset  Creek. 

Pemaquid.  In  1621  the  Council  granted  to  Sir  William  Alexander, 
Earl  of  Sterling,  the  French  possessions  of  Arcadia  between  the  St. 
Croix  and  St.  Lawrence  Rivers,  to  be  called  “ The  Lordship  and 
Barony  of  New  Scotland.”  A second  grant  was  made  him  in  1635, 
of  the  country  between  the  St.  Croix  and  the  Kennebec,  called  Pema- 
quid, together  with  the  islands  of  Long  (occupied  by  the  Dutch), 
Nantucket,  and  Martha’s  Vineyard. 

New  Hampshire.  In  1629  the  Council  made  a grant  to  Captain 
John  Mason  of  that  part  of  the  main  land  between  the  mouth  of  the 
Merrimac  River,  Cape  Ann  and  the  mouth  of  the  Piscataqua  River, 
from  the  mouth  of  the  Merrimac  River,  through  the  river  and  up 
into  the  country  60  miles,  from  which  point  to  cross  overland  to  the 
head  of  the  Piscataqua  River,  60  miles  from  its  mouth. 

Massachusetts.  In  1623  the  Puritan  leaders  in  England,  fearing 
the  result  of  the  contest  upon  which  they  had  entered  with  Charles 


8 


HISTORICAL  GEOGRAPHY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


I.,  conceived  the  plan,  under  cover  of  a trading  company,  of  estab- 
lishing a Puritan  State  in  the  New  World.  A grant  was  accordingly 
obtained  in  the  name  of  the  Dorchester  Colony,  from  the  Council  of 
New  England,  and  a small  settlement  made  at  Salem.  In  1629  the 
company  was  enlarged  and  a royal  charter  obtained  under  the  title 
of  the  Massachusetts  Bay  Company,  with  powers  of  self-government. 
The  boundaries  of  this  royal  grant  were,  all  the  land  lying  between  a 
point  three  miles  south  of  the  southernmost  point  of  Charles  River 
and  Massachusetts  Bay,  and  three  miles  north  of  the  Merrimac  River 
or  any  part  thereof,  extending  from  the  Atlantic  Ocean  to  the  South 
Sea  (Pacific  Ocean).1 

The  Puritan  plans  were  well  matured,  large  bodies  of  settlers 
under  prominent  leaders  were  sent  out.  Boston  was  founded  (1630). 
Then  the  government  of  the  company  removed  thither  from  England. 
A governor  and  representatives  for  each  plantation  were  elected  and 
by  1632  a fully  organized  representative  commonwealth,  a theocracy, 
was  in  operation. 

The  Plymouth  Council,  overshadowed  by  their  stronger  and 
more  prosperous  neighbor,  the  Massachusetts  Bay  Company,  and  un- 
able to  obtain  a royal  charter,  in  1635  resigned  their  charter  after 
first  dividing  the  land  among  themselves  into  eight  shares.  The 
Province  of  Maine  went  to  Sir  Francis  Gorges  and  in  1639  was  con- 
firmed to  him  by  royal  grant,  none  of  the  others  were  ever  confirmed. 

Rhode  Island.  As  the  population  of  Massachusetts  Bay  Colony 
increased,  some  for  conscience  sake,  and  many  more  from  a desire  to 
live  beyond  the  restraint  of  law,  moved  beyond  its  charter  limits. 
Thus  was  the  Providence  Plantation  (1636)  and  Rhode  Island  Colony 
(1635)  founded.  They  were  united  under  a royal  charter  obtained  in 
1644.  Subsequently  (1664)  a new  charter  was  obtained,  extending  the 
boundaries  to  their  present  limits. 

Connecticut.  As  the  colonists  pushed  farther  and  farther  from 
the  coast,  towns  began  to  appear  in  the  Connecticut  Valley.  In  1635 

1 Reference  to  the  map  will  show  that  these  limits  were  greatly  prescribed  by  the  pre- 
vious New  Hampshire  grant  to  Mason  and  the  Dutch  occupation  on  the  west. 


HISTORICAL  GEOGRAPHY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


9 


Hartford,  Windsor,  and  Wethersfield,  called  the  Connecticut  Colony, 
were  founded,  the  settlers  supposing  for  some  years  that  they  were 
within  the  Massachusetts  Bay  limits.  Saybrook  was  settled  in  1636, 
the  New  Haven  Colony  in  1638.  For  mutual  protection  against  the 
Dutch  and  Indians,  representatives  from  these  towns  in  1639  formed 
a compact,  a pure  democracy,  after  which  our  present  government 
was  largely  modelled.  They,  however,  ^had  no  charter  rights  until 
1662,  when  Charles  II.  constituted  the  Connecticut  Company,  bound- 
ing it  east  by  Narragansett  Bay,  north  by  the  Massachusetts  Planta- 
tions (420  2'),  south  by  the  sea,  and  west  by  the  South  Sea,  ignor- 
ing the  presence  of  the  Dutch.1 

Division  of  Virginia. 

(See  Map,  1660.) 

Virginia.  The  London  Company,  richer  than  the  Plymouth 
Company,  controlled  by  those  whose  views  were  more  in  accord  with 
the  crown,  made  Virginia  a colony  much  like  the  mother  country. 

As  the  Puritans  of  New  England,  mostly  burghers  coming  from 
the  towns,  based  their  government  upon  the  town  meeting,  so  the 
dominant  element  in  the  Southern  colonies,  being  at  first  gentlemen 
from  the  shires,  organized  their  local  government  on  the  model  of 
the  English  shire  or  county  system,  and  made  allegiance  to  the  Eng- 
lish church  a basis  of  citizenship.  Settlements  took  the  form  of 
large  plantations,  agriculture  the  employment,  and  at  the  same  time 
(1619)  that  the  Pilgrims  landed  in  New  England  that  they  might  be 
free,  slaves  were  introduced  to  supply  the  laboring  class.  In  1624 
the  charter  was  forfeited  and  Virginia  became  a royal  province. 
Her  territorial  jurisdiction  was  continued  but  under  a royal  governor. 

In  1649  a grant  was  made  to  Lord  Culpepper,  but  that  was  one  of 
the  soil  only,  not  of  jurisdiction.  It  embraced  that  section  between 
the  Potomac  and  Rappahannock  Rivers  (Fairfax  County). 

Carolana.  In  1629  the  king  gave  Sir  Richard  Heath,  “as  the 

1 Latitude  41°,  where  the  line  settled  with  New  York  touched  the  sea,  was  regarded 
as  her  southern  line  in  all  subsequent  claims. 


IO  HISTORICAL  GEOGRAPHY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Province  of  Carolana,”  a sea  to  sea  charter  embracing  six  degrees  of 
latitude  (3o°-36°).  Part  of  this  was  within  the  Virginia  limits  and 
the  balance  was  that  section  claimed  by  France  as  French  Florida. 
As  no  permanent  settlement  was  made  the  charter  lapsed  a few  years 
later. 

Maryland.  In  1632  Charles  I.  granted  Maryland,  named  in  honor 
of  the  Queen,  to  Lord  Baltimore.  The  limits  of  the  grant  were  that 
section  between  latitude  40°  (the  southern  boundary  of  the  New 
England  Company)  and  the  Potomac  River  to  its  first  fountain,  and 
bounded  on  the  east  by  Delaware  Bay.  The  portion  on  the  Delaware 
they  found,  however,  in  possession  of  the  Swedes  and  Dutch. 

Here,  on  Chesapeake  Bay,  controlling  the  trade  and  highway 
through  the  mountains  by  both  the  Susquehanna  and  Potomac, 
Lord  Baltimore  founded  the  only  single  proprietary  government  on 
our  shores  and  the  only  one  established  with  entire  religious  freedom 
of  worship. 

Middle  States. 

Between  these  northern  and  southern  groups  of  colonies,  but 
within  the  limits  of  the  New  England  charter  of  1620,  lay  the  terri- 
tory now  occupied  by  our  Middle  States. 

New  York.  ( See  Map,  1664.)  In  1664  Charles  II.  granted  to  his 
brother,  the  Duke  of  York,  that  portion  of  the  east  coast  between  the 
St.  Croix  and  the  Kennebec  Rivers  and  the  Islands  of  Nantucket  and 
Martha’s  Vineyard  (which  the  Duke  had  purchased  the  year  before 
from  the  heirs  of  Sir  Alexander)  and  the  Hudson  River,  with  the 
lands  on  either  side  from  the  Connecticut  line  on  the  east,  to  the 
Delaware  on  the  west.  Under  this  charter  an  English  fleet  at  once 
seized  the  New  Netherland.  Dutch  sovereignty  in  the  New  World 
disappeared.  Occupying,  however,  as  it  did,  natural  geographical 
boundaries,  distinct  from  those  of  New  England,  it  rendered  the  old 
sea  to  sea  boundaries  impossible  and  stamped  its  impress  on  our  po- 
litical boundaries.  The  Dutch  possessions  on  the  Hudson,  including 
Long  Island,  were  at  once  named  New  York. 

New  Jersey.  On  receipt  of  his  grant  the  Duke  sold  that  portion 


HISTORICAL  GEOGRAPHY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


1 1 

between  the  Hudson  and  the  Delaware  extending  to  410  of  north 
latitude  to  Lord  John  Berkeley  and  Sir  John  Carteret,  to  be  known 
hereafter  as  New  Ceasarea,  or  New  Jersey.  They  divided  it  into  East 
and  West  Jersey.  The  dividing  line,  surveyed  in  1687,  ran  from  Little 
Egg  Harbor  to  about  six  miles  nortli  of  the  Delaware  Water  Gap. 

Delaware.  When  the  Duke  took  New  York  he  seized  also  the 
Dutch  settlements  on  the  west  bank  of  Delaware  Bay  as  part  of  the 
Nethexland.  Although  they  were  included  in  the  Maryland  grant, 
he  held  and  governed  it  as  part  of  New  York  until  1681  when  he  sold 
it  to  William  Penn. 

THE  NEXT  ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS. 

( Adjustment  of  Boundaries,  1664-1763.) 

The  next  one  hundred  years  saw  the  rise  of  the  great  State  of 
Pennsylvania,  the  Southern  Colonies,  the  adjustment  of  many 
boundary  lines,  and  the  growth  of  the  French  power  in  the  Missis- 
sippi Valley. 

The  Carolinas.  On  the  restoration  of  the  Stuarts  Charles  II. 
rewarded  the  Earl  of  Clarendon,  Duke  of  Albramarl,  and  other  zeal- 
ous adherents  with  a grant  (1665)  of  all  the  territory  lying  between 
36°  30'  and  290  of  latitude  and  from  sea  to  sea. 

This  embraced,  on  the  north,  part  of  Virginia,  and,  on  the  south, 
the  Spanish  province  of  Florida.  In  1670  this  was  divided  by  the 
Company  into  North  and  South  Carolina.  Ten  years  later  (1680)  a 
settlement  was  made  on  the  Ashley  River,  called  Charleston.  The 
Carolinas  occupied  the  same  relation  to  Virginia  that  Rhode  Island  did 
to  the  Plymouth  and  Massachusetts  Bay  Companies.  Malcontents 
had  settled  on  the  Chowan,  pirates  preying  on  Spanish  commerce 
made  Charleston  their  rendezvous  and  an  impossible  form  of  govern- 
ment produced  so  much  irritation  that  in  1729  the  proprietors  sold 
both  Carolinas  to  the  Crown  and  they  became  royal  provinces. 

Georgia.  “The  colonies  actually  founded  present  every  variety  of 
origin  and  motive,  from  the  highest  and  most  far-reaching  purposes 


12  HISTORICAL  GEOGRAPHY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

of  politics  and  religion  to  the  small  beginning  of  posts  for  the  better 
prosecution  of  the  fur  trade.  Among  all  these  Georgia  was  the  only 
one  to  owe  its  foundations  to  charity.”1 

In  1732  General  James  Oglethorpe,  a domestic  reformer  in  Parlia- 
ment, devised  a scheme  for  settling  insolvent  debtors  in  America.  He 
obtained  a grant  of  the  land  between  the  Savannah  and  Altamaha 
Rivers  for  twenty-one  years.  Savannah  was  founded  (1733).  The 
colony  prospered  and  stood  as  a bulwark  between  the  Spanish  and 
Carolina  settlements.  Then  it  grew  feeble,  struggled  on  until  the 
expiration  of  its  charter,  and  was  turned  over  to  the  Crown,  the 
trustees  feeling  the  scheme  had  been  a failure. 

Virginia.  Colonists  were  now  beginning  to  find  their  way  along 
the  Upper  Potomac  to  the  country  beyond  the  Blue  Ridge.  “In 
1738  the  General  Assembly  created  Augusta  County,  bounding  it 
by  the  Blue  Ridge  on  the  east  and  on  the  west  and  northwest  by 
the  uttermost  limits  of  Virginia.”  This  country  embraced  the  west- 
ern part  of  the  grant  to  Penn. 

As  this  country  also  covered  much  territory  claimed  by  the  Six 
Nations,  Virginia  succeeded  in  1744  in  obtaining  from  them  a deed 
covering  the  whole  western  country.  This  deed  was  as  complete  a 
title  as  the  charter  of  1609. 

Pennsylvania.  English  colonies  now  lined  the  whole  Atlantic 
seaboard  from  Nova  Scotia  to  Florida;  but  one  section,  lying  within 
the  bounds  of  the  Old  Plymouth  Company  west  of  the  Delaware, 
hitherto  shut  off  by  the  Dutch  occupancy,  remained  within  the  king’s 
gift.  This  he  gave  to  William  Penn  and  called  it  Pennsylvania.  It 
was  to  consist  of  all  that  tract  bounded  on  the  east  by  the  Delaware 
River  : north  by  the  beginning  of  the  430  of  north  latitude  : south 
by  a circle  drawn-  at  twelve  miles  north  of  New  Castle  (Del.),  and 
thence  west  at  the  beginning  of  the  40°  of  north  latitude  : west  by  a 
meridian  line  50  west  of  the  Delaware. 

When  Penn  took  possession  and  founded  Pennsylvania  (1683)  the 
vagueness  of  the  expression  the  beginning  of  the  40°  and  43 °,  and 

1 Lodge. 


HISTORICAL  GEOGRAPHY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


13 


defective  ideas  of  the  geography  of  the  country,  a circle  12  miles  north 
of  New  Castle  not  touching  the  40th  degree,  led  to  serious  contro- 
versies with  all  the  adjoining  colonies.  If  the  beginning  of  the 
40°  and  430  meant  from  the  40°  to  430  it  would  overlap  the  Massachu- 
setts (42°-43°)  and  Connecticut  (4i°-42°)  charters  west  of  the  Dela- 
ware (New  York  now  claimed  nothing  west  of  the  Delaware)  and 
make  his  southern  boundary  considerably  north  of  Philadelphia.  If 
it  meant  the  390  to  420  it  would  still  overlap  the  Connecticut  charter 
on  the  north  and  most  of  the  Maryland  grant  on  the  south.  In  either 
case  its  western  boundary,  50  west  of  the  Delaware,  extended  far  into 
the  Virginia  county  of  Augusta. 

As  Penn  had  purchased  Delaware  of  the  Duke  of  York  and  wished 
to  control  an  outlet  to  the  ocean  he  contended  for  the  more  south- 
erly boundary.  The  contest  with  Maryland  lasted  until  1763,  when 
a compromise  was  effected.  The  Maryland  line  was  moved  to  390 
43' and  two  celebrated  engineers,  Jeremiah  Mason  and  Charles  Dixon, 
surveyed  it  west  from  the  Delaware  244  miles.  The  line  called  after 
them  was  the  nominal  boundary  for  many  years  between  the  Free  and 
Slave  States.  The  French  and  Indian  war  postponed  the  controversy 
with  Virginia  and  Connecticut  to  a later  day. 

New  Jersey.  The  grant  of  East  and  West  Jersey  proving  unsat- 
isfactory to  the  king,  owing  to  conflicting  claims  of  the  proprietors 
and  their  heirs,  James  in  1689  compelled  each  to  surrender  their 
claims  to  the  crown  and  he  embodied  them  into  one  province  New 
Jersey. 

New  York.  In  1684  the  Duke  of  York,  recognizing  the  command- 
ing position  of  the  Iroquois  and  their  claim  to  all  the  country  from 
the  mountains  to  the  great  lakes  and  the  Mississippi,  succeeded  in 
persuading  them  to  put  themselves  under  his  protection.  The  next 
year  he  came  to  the  throne  and  New  York  became  a royal  province. 

In  1726  the  Iroquois  (Six  Nations)  conveyed  to  England  in  trust 
all  their  lands,  under  promise  of  protection. 

Massachusetts  and  the  settlement  of  the  New  England  bound- 
aries. In  1684  the  English  High  Court  of  Chancery  issued  a writ  ae- 


14 


HISTORICAL  GEOGRAPHY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


priving  the  colony  of  its  charter  (of  1629),  and  of  political  and  rep- 
resentative rights,  vesting  all  powers  in  the  Crown.  On  the  accession 
of  William  and  Mary  in  1688  a new  policy  of  colonial  consolidation 
was  adopted,  and  a new  charter  (1691)  given,  more  liberal  than  to 
most  royal  provinces.  This  charter  confirmed  the  limits  of  the  old 
charter  of  1629  and  included  the  Cape  Cod  country  embraced  in  the 
Plymouth  grant  surrendered  to  the  Crown  in  1635,  the  province  of 
Maine  purchased  by  the  Massachusetts  Bay  Company  from  the  heirs 
of  Sir  Gorges,  the  Pemaquid  tract  acquired  in  1686  and  now  con- 
firmed, and  Nova  Scotia. 

In  1696  Nova  Scotia  was  made  a separate  royal  province  and  the 
Massachusetts  line  was  fixed  henceforth  at  the  St.  Croix.1 

Massachusetts  now  proceeded  to  claim  all  New  Hampshire  under 
the  clause  in  its  charter  of  1629  making  its  northern  limits  three 
miles  north  of  any  part  of  the  Merrimac  River.  Commissioners 
were  chosen  by  the  two  colonies,  but,  failing  to  agree,  it  was  referred 
to  the  king.  He  refused  to  place  New  Hampshire  under  the  juris- 
diction of  Massachusetts,  deciding  (1737)  that  the  line  between  the 
States  should  run  three  miles  north  of  the  Merrimac  and  parallel  to 
it  from  its  mouth  until  it  reached  the  most  southernly  point  in  its 
course,  from  which  it  should  run  due  west  until  it  met  with  His 
Majesty’s  other  governments.  This  line  was  run  in  1741,  at  which 
time,  also,  the  line  on  the  Piscataqua  was  also  settled. 

The  boundary  between  New  York  was  never  settled  until  after  the 
Revolution,  though  New  York,  after  agreeing  upon  the  20  mile  line 
with  Connecticut  in  1737,  agreed  in  1767  to  an  extension  of  the  same 
with  Massachusetts  until  it  met  the  east  and  west  line  decided  upon 
as  the  northern  boundary  between  that  colony  and  New  Hampshire. 
Above  that  line,  however,  New  York  claimed  to  the  Connecticut 
River. 

Rhode  Island  claimed  the  country  of  King  Philip,  east  of  Narra- 
gansett  Bay,  as  did  also  Plymouth,  and  later  Massachusetts,  succeed- 

1 Arcadia  was  still  held  by  the  French  and  it  was  not  until  the  Peace  of  Utrecht,  1713, 
that  it  was  ceded  to  England. 


HISTORICAL  GEOGRAPHY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


15 


ing  to  the  claim  by  virtue  of  the  Provincial  charter  of  1691.  This 
dispute  was  referred,  in  1741,  to  commissioners,  who  gave  Rhode 
Island  those  towns  on  the  east  shore  of  the  bay  and  Massachusetts 
the  balance. 

Connecticut  settled  her  boundary  with  Rhode  Island  in  1752. 
Her  contest  with  New  York  lasted  until  within  a few  years  (1881), 
though  the  line  settled  in  1683  and  again  in  1725  and  1737,  twenty 
miles  east  of  the  Hudson,  is  practically  the  one  of  to-day.  Its  north- 
ern line,  determined  upon  with  Massachusetts  in  1713,  included  in 
the  latter  State  the  towns  of  Enfield,  Suffield,  Somers,  and  Wood- 
stock.  In  1747,  being  taxed  too  heavily,  they  applied  to  Connecticut 
for  admission  into  that  commonwealth  and  Massachusetts  gracefully 
gave  them  up. 

New  France. 

(See  Map , French  Posts  in  the  Mississippi  Valley.') 

While  England  had  established  a continuous  line  of  strong  colo- 
nies along  the  Atlantic  Slope,  her  great  rival,  France,  had  not  been 
idle.  With  an  open  water-way  by  the  St.  Lawrence  and  the  Great 
Lakes,  with  no  natural  barriers,  a nation  of  traders  in  peltries  had 
gone  by  short  portages  to  the  upper  waters  of  the  Mississippi  and 
occupied  the  country  in  the  name  of  their  king. 

St.  Marie  (1668),  the  gateway  to  the  northwest,  and  Green  Bay 
(1669),  in  Wisconsin,  were  settled  while  the  English  were  taking  New 
York.  A settlement  was  made  at  Fort  Crevecoeur  (Peoria,  1679)  on 
the  Illinois  River,  and  the  Mississippi  had  been  followed  to  its  mouth 
(1682)  by  the  year  Penn  had  laid  the  foundations  of  Philadelphia. 

With  both  great  natural  highways  in  her  possession,  New  France 
wisely  occupied  its  two  great  provinces:  Canada,  the  country 
of  the  St.  Lawrence  and  Great  Lakes  ; Louisiana,  the  valleys  of  the 
Mississippi  and  Ohio.  Hence  early  in  the  eighteenth  century  we 
find  Detroit,  Fort  Miami,  and  Fort  Vincent,  commanding  the  port- 
ages and  Wabash  Valley ; Kaskaskia  (with  a college  and  monastery 
in  1721),  Cahokia,  and  Fort  Chartres,  commanding  the  Upper  Mis- 


i6 


HISTORICAL  GEOGRAPHY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


sissippi  and  Missouri;  New  Orleans  and  Fort  Rosalie  (Natchez), 
commanding  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi  ; Niagara,  Presque  Isle 
(Erie),  and  Fort  Duquesne  (Pittsburg),  the  Lake  Erie  and  Ohio  route, 
geographically  ail  great  natural  strategic  points.  On  the  north,  too, 
France  had  built  Fort  Ticonderoga  and  Crown  Point,  thus  seizing 
the  Lake  Champlain  and  Richelieu  route.  In  1717,  on  the  Spanish 
occupying  Texas,  France  promptly  fortified  Natchitoches,  thus  mark- 
ing the  limits  of  New  France  in  that  direction. 

Between  these  French  and  English  empires  stretched  the  Appala- 
chian range.  Where  a natural  highway  opens  to  the  West  along  the 
Mohawk  Valley  stood  the  great  confederacy  of  the  Six  Nations. 
Where  the  mountains  ended  at  the  South  stood  the  Cherokee-Choctaw 
confederacy.  One  Iroquois,  the  other  Algonquin,  but  both  jealously 
guarding  the  occupation  of  their  hunting-grounds. 

The  year  1755  (see  Map,  1755-1763)  finds  the  continent  thus  politi- 
cally divided.  Spain  occupies  the  lower  Pacific  Slope,  the  valley  of 
the  Rio  Grande,  Texas,  and  Florida.  France  holds  the  vast  interior 
basin,  Canada,  and  Acadia;  England,  the  Atlantic  Slope.  The  time 
had  now  come  when  the  question  was  to  be  decided  whether  the 
Teutonic  (English)  or  Latin  race  (French),  and  all  the  ideas  they  ex- 
press, were  to  rule  in  America.  The  answer  came  on  the  Plains  of 
Abraham  in  1759.  French  rule  fell  as  had  the  Dutch.  When  peace 
was  concluded  by  the  First  Peace  of  Paris,  in  1763,  France  gave  to 
England  all  her  possessions  east  of  the  Mississippi,  excepting  the 
Island  of  New  Orleans  at  the  mouth  of  that  river. 

“ Spain  had  taken  part  in  the  contest  as  an  ally  of  France,  Eng- 
land had  captured  Havana  in  the  Island  of  Cuba,  the  very  key  to  the 
Gulf  of  Mexico.  To  regain  that  Spain  surrendered  Florida  to  Eng- 
land, and  received- as  a compensation  from  France  all  of  her  posses- 
sions on  the  Continent  of  North  America  that  did  not  pass  to  England. 
The  great  result  of  the  change  was  that  England  and  Spain  now 
divided  North  America,  the  Mississippi  River  being  the  only  definite 
boundary  between  them.”  1 


1 Hinsdale. 


HISTORICAL  GEOGRAPHY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


1 7 


THE  ENGLISH  ASCENDENCY  IN  AMERICA. 

[See  Map , 1763-1783.) 

With  the  acquisition  of  New  France  and  Florida,  England  at 
once  proceeded  (1763)  to  organize  that  portion  north  of  the  St. 
Lawrence  and  the  45th  parallel  and  east  of  Lake  Huron  into  the 
Province  of  Quebec,  the  territory  on  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  into  East 
and  West  Florida,  divided  by  the  Appalachicola  River,  with  a northern 
boundary  of  the  310  parallel,  from  the  Mississippi  River  to  the  Chat- 
tahoochee, then  down  that  river  to  the  Flint,  thence  to  the  St.  Mary’s 
and  the  Atlantic  Ocean.  The  next  year  she  moved  the  310  parallel 
line  north  to  one  parallel  with  the  mouth  of  the  Yazoo.  That  por- 
tion of  ancient  French  Florida,  debatable  ground  between  England 
and  Spain,  was  given  to  Georgia.  All  west  of  the  mountains  she  set 
apart  as  an  Indian  domain,  forbidding  the  intrusion  of  settlers.  Five 
years  later  (1768),  at  Fort  Stanwix,  England  made  a treaty  with  the 
Six  Nations,  making  what  was  afterward  denominated  “The  Property 
Line,”  1 2 which  was  to  be  forever  a dividing  line  between  the  English 
Colonies  and  the  Indians. 

This  line  extended  from  Wood  Creek,  near  Lake  Oneida,  to  the 
head-waters  of  the  Delaware,  thence  to  the  Susquehanna,  thence  west 
to  Kittanning,  on  the  Alleghany  River,  and  so  down  the  Ohio  to  the 
mouth  of  the  Cherokee  (Kanawha)  River,  where  it  met  a line  agreed 
upon  in  1765  between  the  royal  Governors  of  the  Southern  Colonies 
and  the  Cherokees,  extending  from  the  Kanawha  to  the  source  of  the 
Savannah  River,  and  hence  to  Florida. 

The  Quebec  Act  was  promulgated  in  1774,  extending  the  Prov- 
ince of  Quebec  to  the  Ohio  and  the  Mississippi,  thus  preparing  the 

1 “This  treaty  line  was  the  means  of  keeping  the  Indians  neutral  during  the  first  part 
of  the  Revolution.  It  was  considered  binding  by  the  Colonies.  The  Declaration  of  In- 
dependence extended  only  to  the  line,  and  when  the  States  afterward  extended  their 
boundaries  they  made  a pretence  at  least  of  purchasing  the  land.” — Mag.  of  Am.  His. 

2 


HISTORICAL  GEOGRAPHY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


way  for  the  establishment  of  interior  Colonies  dependent  upon  a 
government  on  the  St.  Lawrence  rather  than  the  Atlantic  Slope. 

Virginia.  To  the  Colonies  the  possession  of  the  country  west  of 
the  Alleghanies  created  a general  desire  to  extend  their  limits  westward. 
Settlers  from  Virginia  began  occupying  the  country  south  of  the 
Ohio,  west  of  the  mountains.  In  1776  it  was  organized  into  the 
County  of  Kentucky.  Pennsylvania,  pushing  its  limits  westward,  came 
into  conflict  with  Virginia — a controversy  which  was  not  settled 
until  the  Revolution,  when,  to  avoid  weakening  the  common  cause, 
commissions  were  appointed,  and  Pennsylvania  was  awarded  her 
early  charter  limits  of  five  degrees  west  from  the  Delaware.  There 
a meridian  line  drawn  from  an  extension  of  the  Mason  and  Dixon  line 
of  1760  to  her  northern  boundary  line  should  be  her  western  boundary 
forever.  ( See  Map , 1775-1783.) 

Connecticut  as  early  as  1753  began  the  extension  of  her  limits 
westward,  under  her  charter  of  1662.  This  involving  claims  to  North- 
ern Pennsylvania  led  to  a bitter  contest  of  jurisdiction.  In  1774  so 
great  had  been  the  emigration  that  Connecticut  organized  these  set- 
tlements into  the  Coimty  of  Westmoreland.  The  war  interrupted  the 
dispute,  which  was  referred  to  the  Continental  Congress  and  decided 
by  a Federal  Court  in  1781  in  favor  of  Pennsylvania.  She,  however, 
still  asserted  her  claim  beyond  the  Western  Pennsylvania  line  to  all 
between  410  and  420  2'. 

Hampshire  Grants.  (See  Map , 1775-1783.)  In  1741  the  king 
extended  the  jurisdiction  of  New  Hampshire  until  it  met  the  king’s 
other  grants.  Claiming  the  same  western  limits  as  had  been  settled 
with  Connecticut  and  was  claimed  by  Massachusetts,  New  Hampshire 
claimed  a line  twenty  miles  east  of  the  Hudson,  what  is  now  Ver- 
mont. Massachusetts  claimed  the  same  territory  under  her  charter  of 
1629,  under  the  interpretation  of  three  miles  north  of  the  source  of 
the  Merrimac.  New  York  insisted  that  the  twenty  mile  line  applied 
only  to  Connecticut  and  Massachusetts,  and  that  north  of  that  all 
west  of  the  Connecticut  River  belonged  to  her  under  the  grant  of 
1664.  The  dispute  was  referred  to  the  king  in  council,  and  in  1746 


HISTORICAL  GEOGRAPHY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


19 


he  decided  in  favor  of  New  York.  Both  New  York  and  New  Hamp- 
shire continued,  however,  to  make  grants  until  the  Revolution,  and 
when  in  1777  New  Hampshire  adopted  a Constitution  and  organized 
a State  Government  (1778)  the  contest  was  continued,  nor  was  any 
decision  reached  until  in  1791  Vermont  was  admitted  to  the  Union  as 
a separate  State. 

CAUSES  THAT  LED  TO  INDEPENDENCE. 

The  King’s  Prerogative,  whereby  the  ownership  of  all  newly  dis- 
covered unoccupied  lands  become  vested  in  the  Crown  (not  in  the 
Government),  and  under  which  settlers  had  only  such  rights  as  the 
king  saw  fit  to  bestow,  had  been  the  recognized  law  under  which  all 
the  colonies  held  their  charters,  and  in  exercise  of  which  the  royal 
provinces  were  governed.  Opposition  to  the  exercise  of  this  right 
was  the  corner-stone  of  the  Liberal  party,  b.^th  in  England  and  the 
colonies. 

Navigation  Laws,  The  early  grants  to  promote  colonial  settle- 
ments were  to  commercial  companies,  who  fostered  and  protected  the 
colonies,  expecting  to  profit  by  their  trade  as  they  became  populous 
and  prosperous. 

England,  at  the  dictation  of  this  mercantile  class,  subsequent  to 
1660  passed  three  statutes,  known  as  the  Navigation  Laws  and  Acts  of 
Trade.  By  the  act  of  1660  the  colonies  were  restricted  from  selling 
their  products,  except  to  England  or  some  other  English  colony,  or 
from  exporting  goods  by  other  than  English  or  colonial  ships. 

These  regulations  deprived  the  Colonists  of  the  benefits  of  com- 
petition in  the  carrying  trade  and  compelled  them  to  send  their 
goods  to  an  already  overstocked  market. 

The  Act  of  1663  required  all  goods  imported  to  be  from  England 
and  carried  on  English-built  ships.  This  compelled  the  paying  of 
English  prices  and  tended  to  destroy  the  ship-building  interests  of 
the  colonies. 

The  Act  of  1672  prohibited  intercolonial  trade. 

All  these  acts  acted  as  prohibitory  to  the  establishment  of  manu- 


20 


HISTORICAL  GEOGRAPHY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


factures.  As  the  English  policy  toward  the  colonies  became  more 
and  more  one  of  protection  for  the  English  mercantile  class,  the  lib- 
eral party  espoused  a policy  of  free  trade. 

Under  these  laws,  however,  the  colonies  enjoyed  English  naval 
protection  and  the  monopoly  of  the  English  home  market,  and  as  for 
the  restrictions  the)’'  evaded  and  disregarded  them  and  grew  rich. 

With  the  close  of  the  war  (1763),  England,  weighed  down  by  the 
expense,  made  an  attempt  to  raise  a revenue  from  the  Colonies. 
(The  Stamp  Act  was  one  means  adopted.)  The  liberal  party  (Whigs) 
refused  to  be  taxed  by  a Parliament  in  which  they  neither  had  nor 
could  have  any  representation. 

The  English  Board  of  Trade  (one  administrative  branch  of  the 
government)  now  ordered  the  enforcement  of  the  Navigation  Laws 
enacted  a century  before,  and  these  were  to  be  enforced  by  Writs  of 
Assistance,  or  general  warrants,  indefinite  in  time,  authorizing  search 
on  suspicion  without  order  of  Court. 

The  Colonies  protested,  conferred  over  the  matter  (Stamp  Act 
Congress  in  New  York,  1765)  and  prepared  a Declaration  of  Rights. 
The  English  answer  rvas  The  Declaratory  Act  “that  the  King, 
with  the  advice  of  Parliament,  had  full  power  to  make  laws  binding 
America  in  all  cases  whatever.”  On  attempts  by  the  King  to  exercise 
his  prerogative,  Massachusetts  issued  a circular  letter  to  the  other  col- 
onies and  the  Crown,  which  not  being  withdrawn  when  ordered  in- 
structions were  issued  to  deprive  Massachusetts  of  its  Covern- 
ment,  and  ordering  all  Royal  Governors  to  send  political  opposers 
to  England  for  trial.  This  step,  outlining  a policy  threatening  the  ex- 
istence of  all  the  colonies,  and  the  passage  by  Parliament  of  the  Que- 
bec Act,  depriving  the  colonies  of  their  charter  lands  in  the  West, 
added  to  the  indignation.  An  immediate  call  for  a general  Congress 
was  issued  and  July  4,  1776,  the  representatives  of  the  United  States, 
in  Congress  assembled,  declared  “that  these  United  Colonies  are, 
and  of  right  ought  to  be,  Free,  and  Independent  States.” 

The  war  that  ensued  was  not  to  gain  freedom,  but  to  preserve 
liberty  and  those  democratic  governments  which  they  had  already 


HISTORICAL  GEOGRAPHY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


21 


established.  Their  valor  and  endurance  fully  entitled  them  to  take 
a place  among  independent  nations. 

A NEW  NATION— ORIGINAL  LIMITS. 

(See  Map,  1783-1801.) 

At  the  Second  Treaty  of  Paris,  signed  in  Paris,  September  3,  1783, 
the  Independence  of  the  United  States  was  acknowledged.  France 
had  helped  the  Colonies  against  England.  Spain  had  helped  France 
conditionally  upon  her  retaining  the  two  Floridas,  if  the  end  of  the 
war  found  them  in  her  possession.  In  the  negotiations  for  peace 
France  and  Spain  now  united  with  England  in  trying  to  limit  the  new 
nation  to  the  old  geographical  limits  of  the  Alleghanies.  (See  Map , 
line  as  proposed  by  France.) 

Virginia  troops  during  the  war  had  taken  the  towns  on  the  Illinois 
and  Wabash  Rivers,  and  Virginia  had  organized  that  portion  into  Illi- 
nois County ; besides,  the  Quebec  Act  had  been  one  of  the  main  griev- 
ances which  led  to  the  war,  so  the  commissioners  of  the  United  States 
insisted  upon  the  Mississippi  as  our  western  boundary.  In  the  treaty 
as  signed,  England  retained  Canada  and  Nova  Scotia,  and  Spain  the 
Floridas.  The  boundaries  of  the  United  States  were  to  be  the  St. 
Croix  from  its  mouth  to  its  source,  thence  by  a line  due  north  to  and 
along  the  highlands  dividing  those  rivers  that  fall  into  the  River  St. 
Lawwence  from  those  falling  into  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  to  the  north- 
west head  of  the  Connecticut  River;  along  the  middle  of  that  river 
to  the  450  of  latitude,  thence  due  west  to  the  St.  Lawrence  River, 
thence  through  the  middle  of  that  river  and  the  Great  Lakes  north  of 
Isles  Royal  and  Philipeaux  to  Long  Lake  and  the  most  northwesterly 
point  of  the  Lake  of  the  Woods,  thence  due  west  to  the  source  of  the 
Mississippi,  thence  down  the  middle  of  that  river  to  the  310  parallel, 
thence  due  east  to  the  Appalachicola  River,  thence  to  its  junction 
with  the  Flint  River,  thence  straight  to  the  head  of  the  St.  Mary’s 
River,  thence  down  that  river  to  the  Atlantic  Ocean. 

Ignorance  of  the  source  of  the  Mississippi  and  of  the  geography 


22 


HISTORICAL  GEOGRAPHY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


of  the  Maine  country  delayed  the  definite  settlement  of  portions  of 
this  line  until  the  line  was  run  west  to  the  Rocky  Mountains  in 
1818,  and  the  Treaty  of  Washington  concerning  the  Maine  boundary 
in  1842.1  ( See  Map,  Maine  Boundary.') 

NATIONAL  GROWTH. 

The  United  States  began  its  national  existence  in  1787,  with 
England  as  a neighbor  on  the  north  and  northeast,  and  Spain  on  the 
west  and  south.  Its  western  boundary  was  the  middle  of  the  Missis- 
sippi, but  Spain  by  the  possession  of  the  Island  of  New  Orleans  held 
the  mouth  of  the  river.  As  the  Ohio,  Illinois,  and  Kentucky  region 
became  settled,  their  commerce  increased  2 until  the  absolute  control 
of  the  entire  eastern  bank  as  a natural  boundary  became  a necessity. 
Events  were  fast  drifting  toward  its  forcible  seizure,  when,  in  1801, 
Spain,  by  secret  treaty,  ceded  to  France  the  Province  of  Louisiana 
with  the  same  boundaries  as  ceded  to  her  in  1763,  a country  stretch- 
ing from  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi  to  its  farthest  western  sources, 
but  with  undefined  limits  to  the  west,  southwest,  or  southeast.  (See 
Map,  1801-1803.)  This  transfer  was  not  known  until  after  the  Treaty 
of  Peace  between  France  and  England,  signed  at  Amiens  in  1802. 
England,  in  alarm,  broke  the  treaty  of  Amiens.  To  the  United 
States  the  change  of  owners  and  the  possible  transfer  of  the  armies 
of  Napoleon  to  the  Mississippi  Valley  made  the  possession  of  the 
Island  of  New  Orleans  more  vital  than  before. 

The  Louisiana  Purchase.  Negotiations  were  opened  for  the 
purchase  of  New  Orleans.  Napoleon,  preparing  to  invade  England, 
in  want  of  funds,  and  unwilling  that  it  should  fall  into  the  hands  of 
England,  offered  to  sell  the  whole  province  to  us  for  fifteen  millions. 
The  purchase  was  made.  Spain  protested,  but  the  treaty  was  signed, 

1 England  never  gave  possession  of  the  forts  on  the  Great  Lakes  until  after  the  nego- 
tiation of  the  Jay  Treaty  in  1795. 

2 All  the  products  of  these  sections  were  then  sent  to  market  via  the  Mississippi, 
there  being  no  roads  over  the  mountains,  the  owners  returning  by  ship  to  the  Atlantic 
ports,  and  hence  over  the  mountain  trails. 


HISTORICAL  GEOGRAPHY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


23 


April  30,  1803.  France  gave  a quit  claim  to  the  Province  of  Loui- 
siana with  the  same  extent  it  had  in  the  hands  of  Spain  in  1800,  and 
that  it  had  when  previously  possessed  by  France.  What  were  these 
limits?  {See  Map,  1803-1821.)  Louis  XIV.,  in  1712,  in  granting  the 
trade  of  the  province  to  Antoine  Crozat,  bounded  it  by  New  Mexico 
and  Carolina,  and  all  the  territory  whose  lakes  or  rivers  emptied  di- 
rectly or  indirectly  into  the  Mississippi  or  any  of  its  branches.  Our 
title,  therefore,  clearly  gave  us  to  the  source  of  the  Missouri  and  the 
Rocky  Mountains. 

France  furthermore  had  claimed  the  Texas  country  as  far  as  the 
Rio  Grande,  based  on  an  attempted  settlement  by  La  Salle  at  the 
mouth  of  that  river,  but  Spain  occupied  that  country  as  far  as  the  Sa- 
bine River  and  French  settlements  in  that  direction  ended  with 
Natchitoches. 

The  United  States  claimed  to  the  Rio  Grande,  also  east  of  the 
Mississippi,  south  of  the  310  of  latitude,  to  the  Perdido  River,  claim- 
ins'  that  the  original  Province  of  Louisiana  extended  eastward  to 
that  river  and  if  France  was  not  in  actual  possession  it  yet  had  a 
possessory  right  when  it  made  the  cession  to  Spain  in  1763,  which 
Spain  re-ceded  in  1801,  and  which  France  ceded  to  the  United  States 
in  1803.  Spain  claimed  that  the  French  cession  in  1763  embraced 
east  of  the  Mississippi  only  the  Island  of  New  Orleans.  The  settle- 
ment of  these  disputed  lines  was  not  made  until  1819. 

Oregon  Country.  With  the  extension  of  our  domain  to  the  Rocky 
Mountains  the  orvnership  of  the  Columbia  Basin  came  into  question. 
In  1792  a Boston  ship  had  discovered  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia. 
Immediately  on  the  purchase  of  Louisiana  the  Government  sent  an 
expedition  which  not  only  reached  the  head-waters  of  the  Missouri, 
but  in  1805  crossed  the  mountains  and  followed  the  Columbia  from 
its  source  to  the  sea.  A settlement  was  made  at  its  mouth  in  1810. 

England  and  Spain  both  claimed  the  country  by  early  discovery. 
In  1818  commissioners  of  England  and  the  United  States  determined 
the  boundary  line  from  the  Lake  of  the  Woods  to  the  Rocky  Moun- 
tains on  parallel  490.  Beyond  the  mountains  the  line  was  left  in 


24 


HISTORICAL  GEOGRAPHY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


abeyance  and  the  country  open  to  settlers  of  both  nations  for  ten 
years,  which  was  afterward  extended  until  definite  lines  were  drawn 
in  1846. 

Florida  Purchase.  {See  Map,  1821-1845.)  1°  1819  a treaty  was 

made  with  Spain,  which  was  ratified  two  years  later,  February  19,  1821, 
settling  the  boundary  between  the  two  countries.  The  United  States 
purchased  Florida  for  five  millions.  The  United  States  gave  up  all 
claims  to  Texas  conditional  upon  Spain  assigning  to  the  United 
States  all  her  title  and  claims  to  the  Oregon  country.  The  line  be- 
tween the  two  countries  was  to  be  the  Sabine  River  to  latitude  320, 
then  due  north  to  the  Red  River,  west  on  the  Red  River  to  the  100th 
meridian,  thence  due  north  to  the  Arkansas  River,  west  on  that 
river  to  its  utmost  source,  thence  due  north  to  the  42d  parallel, 
thence  due  west  to  the  Pacific  Ocean. 

Texas  Annexation.  {See  Map,  1845-1848.)  In  1823  Mexico  threw 
off  the  Spanish  yoke  and  became  a Republic.  In  1835  Texas,  then 
one  of  the  Mexican  States,  declared  its  own  freedom  as  “ The  Re- 
public of  Texas.”  Ten  years  later,  1845,  by  petition  it  was  admitted 
into  the  Union. 

Oregon.  {See  Map,  1845-1848.)  With  the  acquisition  of  Texas 
came  also  our  settlement  of  the  Oregon  question  with  England. 

At  the  time  of  the  American  Revolution  (1776)  Captain  Cook  was 
sent  by  England  to  visit  New  Albion,  discovered  by  Drake  in  1579, 
and  to  proceed  north  in  search  of  a northeast  passage  to  Hudson’s 
Bay.  It  was  upon  these  discoveries  that  England  based  her  claim 
to  Oregon.  The  United  States  claims  were  the  discovery  of  the 
mouth  of  the  Columbia  by  Gray,  1792,  the  exploration  of  the  country 
by  Lewis  and  Clark  in  1805-6,  the  first  settlement  at  Astoria  in 
1810. 

Captain  Cook  touched  no  territory  below  570  which  had  not  pre- 
viously been  explored  by  Spain  and  claimed  by  that  power  under 
the  discoveries  of  Torrelo  in  1542.  Our  title  up  to  1819  was  there- 
fore good  as  against  England  for  the  basin  of  the  Columbia.  When, 
however,  by  our  treaty  with  Spain  (1819)  we  acquired  her  title,  ours 


HISTORICAL  GEOGRAPHY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  2 C 

became  a perfect  one  and  embraced  also  the  more  northern  claim  of 
Spain. 

England  demanded  that  the  Columbia  River  be  the  dividing  line. 
The  American  demand  was  “ 540  40',  or  fight.”  When,  however,  Eng- 
land agreed  to  an  extension  of  the  line  east  of  the  mountains  (490)  to 
the  Pacific  the  Government  assented  rather  than  contend  for  territory 
of  which  they  had  little  knowledge.  The  treaty  was  signed  1846. 

Mexican  Cession  of  1848.  {See Maps,  1848-1853.)  The  old  Span- 
ish provinces  of  Texas  and  Coahuila  were  divided  by  the  River 
Nueces.  When  Mexico  established  its  independence  of  Spain,  they 
were  formed  into  the  Mexican  State  of  “ Texas  and  Coahuila.” 
Texas  on  establishing  its  independence  in  1835  claimed  the  Rio 
Grande  as  its  natural  western  boundary.  Mexico  claimed  that  only 
Texas,  and  not  Coahuila,  had  revolted,  and  hence  the  Nueces  River 
was  the  boundary.  In  1845  the  United  States  annexed  Texas  as 
bounded  bv  the  Rio  Grande  and  at  once  took  possession  of  that  line. 
War  with  Mexico  ensued.  When  peace  was  concluded  in  1848  Mex- 
ico acknowledged  the  Rio  Grande  line  and  ceded  to  the  United 
States  the  provinces  of  New  Mexico  and  Upper  California,  embracing 
the  Pacific  highlands  from  the  Gila  River  to  the  420  parallel  and 
from  the  Texas  border  and  Rocky  Mountains  to  the  Pacific  Ocean. 

Cadsden  Purchase.  {See  Map,  1853-1900.)  In  1853  Mexico  solo 
to  the  United  States  the  Mesilla  Valley  south  of  the  Gila  River  for 
ten  millions  of  dollars,  known  as  the  Gadsden  purchase,  Capt 
Gadsden  being  the  United  States  commissioner  who  negotiated  the 
treaty. 

Alaska  Purchase.  {See  Maps,  1853-1889.)  Though  the  Zaltieri 
map  of  1566,  and  those  subsequent,  showed  the  separation  of  America 
and  Asia,  there  was  no  definite  knowledge  as  to  the  width  of  the 
separation  until  1728,  when  Behring  sailed  through  the  straits  which 
have  since  borne  his  name.  Four  years  later  (1732)  a Russian  fleet, 
being  driven  from  the  coast  of  Russia  eastward,  landed  in  Alaska  and 
annexed  it  as  part  of  the  Russian  Empire.  This  vast  territory,  em- 
bracing over  half  a million  of  square  miles,  the  Aleutian  Islands  and 


26  HISTORICAL  GEOGRAPHY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Behring  Sea,  Russia  sold  to  the  United  States  in  1868  for  seven  mil- 
lion of  dollars,  and  it  was  organized  as  a territory. 

Its  eastern  boundary  runs  from  latitude  540  40'  1 due  north  along 
Portland  Channel  to  the  juncture  of  parallel  56°  with  the  shore, 
thence  along  the  summit  of  the  mountains  skirting  the  coast  to  the 
141st  meridian,  thence  along  that  meridian  to  the  Arctic  Ocean.  It 
includes  in  its  jurisdiction  the  possible  control  of  Behring  Sea.  The 
Yukon  River  system  is,  next  to  the  Mississippi,  the  largest  in  North 
America. 

ORGANIZATION  UNDER  THE  CONFEDERACY. 

Land  Claims  of  the  Original  States. 

[See  Map , 1783.) 

The  United  States  commenced  its  career  as  an  acknowledged 
government  under  a confederacy  of  States.  This  confederacy  held 
jurisdiction  over  all  east  of  the  Mississippi,  from  the  English  posses- 
sions on  the  north  and  northeast  to  the  Spanish  possessions  on  the 
south.  East  of  the  Alleghanies  was  a confederacy  of  thirteen  inde- 
pendent States,  west  of  the  Alleghanies  an  unsettled  country,  with 
here  and  there  a military  post.  Duquesne  well  described  it  in  a 
speech  to  the  Indians  in  1754,  when  he  said,  “Go  see  the  forts  that 
our  king  has  established  and  you  will  see  you  can  still  hunt  under 
their  very  walls  ; they  have  been  placed  for  your  advantage  in  places 
which  you  frequent.”  To  whom  did  this  unsettled  country  belong  ? 
How  was  it  to  be  governed  ? Each  State  claimed  that  its  title  by 
charter  or  grant  rested  in  itself  and  could  not  be  vested  in  the  con- 
federacy without  its  own  consent.  Six  of  the  States  had  well  defined 
limits,  New  Hampshire,  Rhode  Island,  New’  Jersey,  Pennsylvania, 
Delaware,  and  Maryland.  Seven  of  them  under  the  sea  to  sea  char- 
ters laid  claim  to  all  the  western  country. 

Massachusetts,  under  its  title  of  1629,  laid  claim  to  all  of  the 

1 If  the  United  States  had  sustained  its  54°  40'  claim  with  England  in  settling  the 
Oregon  question  she  would  now  have  possessed  the  entire  Pacific  coast  north  of  Mexico. 


HISTORICAL  GEOGRAPHY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


27 


present  State  of  New  York  west  of  the  Delaware  between  420  2'  and 
440  (440  being  a line  drawn  west  three  miles  north  of  the  source  of 
the  west  branch  of  the  Merrimac)  and  all  between  the  Great  Lakes 
and  the  Mississippi  from  420  2'  to  430  15'  (430  15'  being  a line  drawn 
due  west  three  miles  north  of  the  inflow  of  Lake  Winnipiseogee,  the 
eastern  branch  of  the  Merrimac.1 

The  Connecticut  Claim  was,  under  its  charter  of  1663,  to  all 
west  of  the  Pennsylvania  line  between  41 0 and  420  2'  and  to  the  Mis- 
sissippi River. 

The  Virginia  Claim  was  to  all  between  36°  30'  and  the  Connecti- 
cut line,  420  2'  east  of  the  Mississippi.  Her  claim  was  based  on  her 
charter  of  1609, 2 her  treaty  with  the  Iroquois  in  1744,  her  conquest 
of  the  country  during  the  Revolution,  and  by  occupancy  of  the 
country  by  numbers  of  her  citizens  under  the  organized  governments 
of  Augusta,  Kentucky,  and  Illinois  Counties. 

North  Carolina,  South  Carolina,  and  Georgia  claimed  to  the 
Mississippi  under  the  Carolina  charter  of  1665,  to  all  between  36°  30' 
and  the  Spanish  line  (310),  Georgia  carrying  her  claim  north  to  the 
line  of  the  source  of  the  Savannah  River,  and  North  Carolina  hers 
south  to  the  South  Carolina  line,  thereby  leaving  South  Carolina  a 
strip  only  twelve  miles  wide. 

New  York  claimed  that  all  lands  west  of  the  Delaware  and  all 
west  of  the  Alleghany  Mountains  between  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi 
Rivers  (claimed  also  bv  Massachusetts,  Connecticut,  and  Virginia), 
were  vested  in  the  Crown  and  not  in  the  Colonies,  that  the  king,  for- 
merly Duke  of  York,  was  proprietor  of  that  province,  that  his  treaty 
with  the  Six  Nations  and  their  tributaries  in  1685,  whereby  they 
put  themselves  under  his  protection,  and  later,  in  1726,  conveyed  all 
their  lands  in  trust  to  the  Crown,  made  all  these  lands  a part  of  New 
York. 

1 Why  Massachusetts  claimed  43 0 15'  in  one  case  and  44°  in  the  other  I am  unable  to 
find  explained. 

2 Virginia’s  claim  in  reality  covered  also  both  the  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut 
claims. 


28  HISTORICAL  GEOGRAPHY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

These  land  claims  promised  to  destroy  the  confederacy.  The 
seven  States  who  had  extensive  claims  refused  to  give  up  their  claims 
of  jurisdiction  and  the  six  States  with  limited  and  defined  boundaries 
maintained  that  territory  conquered  or  defended  by  joint  effort  and 
at  common  expense  should  be  held  for  the  common  benefit.  Con- 
gress urged  the  States  to  cede  to  the  Government  their  western  claims 
and  assign  to  Congress  the  exclusive  right  and  power  to  lay  out  such 
land  “ into  separate  and  independent  States  from  time  to  time,  as  the 
numbers  and  circumstances  of  the  people  thereof  may  require.” 

Land  Cessions. 

(See  MaJ>,  1787.) 

New  York  first  responded  in  1780,  by  ceding  to  the  general 
Government  all  titles  acquired  by  treaties  with  the  Six  Nations 
north  of  the  45 0 parallel  of  latitude  and  westward  of  a meridian  line 
drawn  through  the  western  bend  of  Lake  Erie,  or  westward  of  a 
meridian  line  20  miles  west  of  the  most  westerly  bend  of  Niagara 
River,  provided  that  the  former  should  not  be  found  to  fall  that 
distance  beyond  said  river.”  Congress  accepted  it  in  1782. 

Virginia  ceded  all  her  claims  northwest  of  the  Ohio  River,  reserv- 
ing only,  as  military  bounty  lands,  the  country  between  the  Scioto  and 
Little  Miami  in  the  present  State  of  Ohio.  The  cession  bears  date 
1784. 

Massachusetts  ceded  in  1784,  and  Congress  accepted  in  1785,  all 
her  lands  west  of  the  New  York  line.  Her  claim  that  fell  within  the 
limits  of  the  present  State  of  New  York  was  adjusted  with  that  State 
in  1786,  by  a meridian  line  82  miles  west  of  the  Delaware  from  the 
Pennsylvania  line  to  Lake  Ontario.  Beyond  this  line  New  York 
yielded  a right  to  the  soil,  and  Massachusetts  the  right  of  sovereignty. 

The  Connecticut  Cession  in  1786  embraced  the  soil  between  410 
and  420  12'  west  of  a meridian  120  miles  west  of  the  Pennsylvania 
line.  To  that  portion  between  the  Pennsylvania  line  and  the  120  mile 
meridian,  known  as  the  “Western  Reserve  of  Connecticut,”  she  re- 
tained the  right  of  soil  but  surrendered  that  of  jurisdiction. 


HISTORICAL  GEOGRAPHY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


29 


South  Carolina  in  1787  ceded  the  twelve-mile  strip  running  from 
the  source  of  the  Savannah  River  to  the  Mississippi. 

Original  Public  Domain. 

{See  Map,  1787.) 

These  cessions,  with  a small  section  in  the  present  State  of  Maine 
lying  outside  of  the  Sir  Gorges  and  Sir  Alexander  grants,  purchased 
by  Massachusetts,  but  inside  the  treaty  line  with  England,  consti- 
tuted the  original  public  domain  (1787). 

Territory  Northwest  of  the  Ohio  River.  {See  Map , 1790.)  Con- 
gress now  passed  (July  13,  1787)  an  ordinance  organizing  all  the 
territory  between  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  Rivers,  and  the  Great  Lakes 
into  the  Territory  Northwest  of  the  Ohio  River,  providing  for  its 
future  division  into  not  more  than  five  nor  less  than  three  States,  and 
establishing  lines  for  those  States.  One,  to  be  bounded  east  bv  the 
Pennsylvania  line,  south  by  the  Ohio,  west  by  a meridian  line  drawn 
from  the  mouth  of  the  Great  Miami  to  the  border  line.  The  second, 
from  the  last  described  line  on  the  east,  the  Ohio  on  the  south  and 
west  to  the  Wabash  River,  and  a line  due  north  from  Port  Vincent  to 
the  border.  The  third  that  portion  between  the  last  mentioned  line 
and  the  Mississippi.  Authority  was  reserved  to  make  two  States  in 
that  part  of  the  territory  north  of  a parallel  passing  through  the 
southernmost  point  of  Lake  Michigan. 

Ohio,  Indiana,  and  Illinois  were  afterward  made  on  these  lines 
and  Michigan  and  Wisconsin  lie  wholly  north  of  the  provisional  lati- 
tude. The  ordinance  prohibited  slavery  in  the  Territory  after  the 
year  1800.  The  small  section  between  Lake  Erie,  the  New  York  and 
Pennsylvania  lines,  was  sold  by  Congress  to  the  State  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, thereby  giving  that  State  a port  on  Lake  Erie. 

Territory  Southwest  of  the  Ohio  River.  (See  Map,  1790.)  In 
1789  North  Carolina  ceded  to  the  Government  the  territory  com- 
prised in  the  present  State  of  Tennessee,  with  the  proviso  that  no 
laws  should  be  enacted  prohibiting  slavery. 

Congress  accepted  the  cession  and  organized  it  with  the  twelve- 


30 


HISTORICAL  GEOGRAPHY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


mile  strip  received  from  South  Carolina  into  the  “ Territory  South- 
Avest  of  the  Ohio  River.” 

DEVELOPMENT  UNDER  THE  CONSTITUTION. 

Adoption  of  a Federal  Constitution.  The  powers  conferred 
upon  Congress  by  the  confederacy  as  organized  proving  inadequate 
to  the  public  needs,  a convention  met  in  1787,  and  drafted  a new  Con- 
stitution constituting  a Federal  Government.  That  Constitution 
(the  same  we  now  have,  excepting  amendments)  was  submitted  to 
Congress  and  by  it  referred  to  conventions  of  the  various  States  for 
adoption  or  rejection.  If  nine  States  gave  their  adherence,  then  it 
was  to  be  considered  in  force  as  far  as  those  nine  States  were  con- 
cerned. 

The  adoptions  came  as  follows  {see  Map , 1790)  : Delaware,  De- 
cember 7,  1787  ; Pennsylvania,  December  12,  1787  ; New  Jersey,  De- 
cember, 18,  1787  ; Georgia,  January  2,  1788  ; Connecticut,  January  9, 
1788;  Massachusetts,  February  7,  1788;  Maryland,  April  28,  1788; 
South  Carolina,  May  23,  1788  ; New  Hampshire,  June  21,  1788  ; Vir- 
ginia, June  26,  1788  ; New  York,  July  26,  1788.  Eleven  States  had 
now  ratified  the  Constitution.  So,  April  30,  1789,  the  new  Govern- 
ment was  formally  organized  by  the  inauguration  of  its  first  Presi- 
dent in  New  York  City.  North  Carolina  adopted  the  Constitution 
November  21,  1789,  and  Rhode  Island,  May  29,  1790. 

District  of  Columbia.  With  the  organization  of  the  Government 
it  became  necessary  that  Congress  should  have  a permanent  home. 
All  agreed  that  it  should  be  centrally  located,  but  sectional  jealousies 
made  the  choice  of  a place  difficult.  The  Constitution  empowered 
Congress  “ to  exercise  exclusive  legislation  in  all  cases  whatever 
over  such  district  (not  exceeding  ten  miles  square),  as  may  by  ces- 
sion of  particular  States  and  the  acceptance  of  Congress  become  the 
seat  of  Government  of  the  United  States.” 

During  the  first  session  of  Congress,  the  Federalists,  in  considera- 
tion of  two  votes  by  Virginia  members  to  carry  an  important  finan- 


HISTORICAL  GEOGRAPHY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


31 


cial  measure,  voted  that,  after  remaining  ten  years  in  Philadelphia, 
the  seat  of  the  Government  should  be  permanently  located  on  the 
Potomac. 

Maryland,  by  Act  of  December  23,  1788,  ceded  to  Congress  a tract 
ten  miles  square.  Virginia  on  December  3,  1789,  did  likewise.  By 
Act  of  July  16,  1790,  Congress  accepted  the  Maryland  cession  and 
after  December,  1800,  it  became  the  seat  of  the  Federal  Government. 

Congress  assumed  exclusive  jurisdiction  February  27,  1801.  In 
1846  the  tract  ceded  by  Virginia  was  retroceded  to  that  State. 

Vermont.  {See  Map,  1800.)  Since  the  Revolution  Vermont,  for- 
merly known  as  the  “ New  Hampshire  Grants,”  but  which  claimed  to 
be  an  independent  republic,  had  been  applying  for  admission  as  a 
State.  Its  claims  were  opposed  by  New  York  and  New  Hampshire 
and  by  the  Southern  States,  who  did  not  wish  to  increase  the  New 
England  influence.  It  was  supported  by  Massachusetts  and  Con- 
necticut, from  hostility  to  New  York,  and  by  the  smaller  States  with 
definite  boundaries  as  likely  to  add  one  more  to  their  number.  In 
March  4,  1791,  Congress  admitted  the  State,  thereby  for  the  first  time 
asserting  its  right  to  settle  disputes  among  States. 

Kentucky  was  settled  by  Virginians,  just  prior  to  the  Revolution, 
passing  through  the  natural  highway  made  bv  the  Cumberland  Gap. 
In  1776  it  was  organized  into  the  County  of  Kentucky  and  as  such 
remained  a part  of  Virginia  when  that  State  ceded  its  lands  north  of 
the  Ohio  to  the  general  Government.  In  February,  1791,  Congress 
provided  for  its  admission  as  a State.  On  June  1,  1792,  a Constitu- 
tion was  formed  and  on  that  date  it  became  the  fifteenth  State  of  the 
Union. 

Tennessee  ( see  Map,  1800)  was  formed  from  the  North  Caro- 
lina cession  of  1789  and  admitted  as  a State  June  1,  1796,  with  a 
Constitution  which  was  never  submitted  to  a popular  vote,  but  which 
Jefferson  pronounced  “the  most  republican  yet  formed  in  America.” 
The  South  Carolina  cession,  which  had  been  united  to  it  as  part  of 
the  “Territory  Southwest  of  the  Ohio  ” was  again  separated  as  the 
Territory  South  of  Tennessee. 


32 


HISTORICAL  GEOGRAPHY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


Georgia  Cession.  Georgia  was  the  last  State  to  make  its  ces- 
sion of  lands  to  the  Government.  In  1788  she  offered  to  cede  to  the 
United  States  that  portion  of  the  former  British  Province  of  West 
Florida  north  of  the  thirty-first  parallel  and  which  was  in  dispute 
between  the  United  States  and  Spain,  but  Congress  declined  to  re- 
ceive it  until  1798.  In  1802  she  ceded  her  claims  to  all  remaining 
territory  west  of  her  present  limits. 

Mississippi  Territory.  {See  Maps,  1800  and  1810.)  On  the  accept- 
ance of  the  first  Georgia  cession  in  1798  the  Government  organized 
it  into  the  Mississippi  Territory,  subsequently  adding  the  later  ces- 
sion of  1802  and  the  Territory  South  of  Tennessee  excepting  such 
portion  as  lay  east  of  the  present  western  boundary  of  Georgia  which 
the  United  States  ceded  to  that  State. 

Indiana  Territory.  ( See  Maps,  1800  and  1810.)  By  Act  of  Con- 
gress, passed  May  7,  1800,  the  territory  northwest  of  the  Ohio  was  di- 
vided. After  July  1st,  all  that  portion  lying  west  of  a line  from  the 
Ohio  River  to  Fort  Recovery  (known  as  the  Treaty  line  of  1795), 
thence  by  a meridian  line  to  the  international  border,  was  constituted 
into  Indiana  Territory.  When  Ohio  became  a State  in  1802  all  the 
Northwest  territory  north  of  the  Ohio  line  was  added.  For  one 
year,  1804  to  1805,  after  the  purchase  of  the  Province  of  Louisiana 
from  France,  and  until  it  was  independently  organized,  all  that  ter- 
ritory north  of  the  Territory  of  Orleans,  extending  to  the  Rocky 
Mountains,  was  included  in  its  jurisdiction.  In  1805  Michigan  Ter- 
ritory, embracing  all  between  Lakes  Erie,  Huron,  and  Michigan, 
was  taken  from  it,  and  in  1809  Illinois  Territory  was  separated  by  a 
line  following  the  Wabash  River  to  Vincennes  and  thence  by  a me- 
ridian line  due  north  to  the  international  line. 

Ohio.  ( See  Map,  1810.)'  In  1802  Congress  passed  its  first  “En- 
abling Act,”  authorizing  the  inhabitants  of  the  eastern  portion  of  the 
Territory  Northwest  of  the  Ohio  to  make  a Constitution,  republican 
in  form,  in  accord  with  the  ordinance  of  1787,  and  to  organize  a State 
government,  the  boundaries  of  the  State  to  be  : East,  the  Penn- 
sylvania line  ; south,  the  Ohio  River ; west,  the  meridian  of  the 


HISTORICAL  GEOGRAPHY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


33 


mouth  of  the  great  Miami  River  ; north,  the  latitudinal  line  pass- 
ing through  the  southern  point  of  Lake  Michigan.  Congress  re- 
served the  right  to  add  the  balance  of  the  Northwest  Territory,  north 
of  the  limits  of  the  State,  or  to  dispose  of  it  as  it  should  think  best. 
A Convention  was  called,  a Constitution  formed,  with  the  proviso 
that  if  the  latitudinal  line  from  the  most  southern  point  of  Lake 
Michigan  to  the  boundary  line  did  not  touch  Lake  Erie,  or  touched 
it  east  of  the  mouth  of  the  Maumee  River,  then  the  northern  bound- 
ary should  be  a line  from  the  most  northern  cape  of  Maumee  Bay  to 
the  meridian  line.  This  Constitution  was  never  submitted  to  the 
people,  nor  was  the  State  ever  formally  admitted,  but  an  Act  on  Feb- 
ruary 19,  1803,  declared  that  by  the  formation  of  a Constitution  it 
had  became  one  of  the  United  States  of  America. 

Michigan  Territory  of  (805  was  made  from  the  Northwest  Ter- 
ritory remaining  north  of  the  Ohio  line,  and  that  portion  of  Indiana 
Territory  lying  north  of  the  parallel  passing  through  the  most 
southern  extremity  of  Lake  Michigan  and  east  of  Lake  Michigan. 

Territory  of  Orleans.  {See  Map , 1810.)  On  the  acquisition  of  the 
Province  of  Louisiana  from  France  in  r8o3  Congress  organized  that' 
portion  at  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi  River  into  the  Territory  of 
Orleans,  bounded  south  by  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  west  by  the  Sabine 
River  to  latitude  320  and  thence  north  to  parallel  33°,  north  and  east 
by  parallel  330  from  the  Spanish  line  to  the  Mississippi,  thence  down 
that  river  to  the  310  parallel,  thence  east  to  the  Perdido  River  (bound- 
ary of  Spanish  Florida),  thence  down  that  river  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 

The  District  of  Louisiana  comprised  the  balance  of  the  French 
purchase.  In  1804  it  was  attached  to  Indian  Territory,  but  the  fol- 
lowing year  (1805)  was  organized  into  Louisiana  Territory. 

The  Territory  of  Illinois  {see  Map , 1810)  was  made  in  1809  from 
IndianaTerritory.  Itembraced  all  that  portion  of  the  Territory  North- 
west of  the  Ohio  River  organized  under  the  Ordinance  of  1787,  west 
of  the  Wabash  River  and  a meridian  line  drawn  from  Vincennes  to 
the  international  line. 

The  State  of  Louisiana  {see  Map , 1820)  was  made  from  the  Ter* 
3 


34  HISTORICAL  GEOGRAPHY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

ritory  of  Orleans  in  1812,  and  at  first  embraced  all  that  portion  west 
of  the  Mississippi  River,  and  the  Island  of  New  Orleans,  to  which  the 
section  south  of  parallel  310  and  west  of  the  Pearl  River  was  subse- 
quently added.  The  Territory  of  Louisiana  was  then  renamed  the 
Territory  of  Missouri. 

The  closing  years  of  this  decade  (1810-1820)  saw  four  more  new 
States  in  the  Union,  two  free  and  two  slave. 

Indiana  was  admitted  December  11,  1816,  with  east,  south,  and 
west  boundaries  the  same  as  those  of  the  Territory  ; on  the  north, 
however,  the  line  was  run  on  a parallel  ten  miles  north  of  the  extreme 
southern  point  of  Lake  Michigan. 

Ill  inois  shortly  followed,  on  December  3,  1818,  bounded  on  east, 
south,  and  west  by  Indiana,  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  Rivers  respect- 
ively, north  by  the  parallel  42°  30'  from  Lake  Michigan  to  the 
Mississippi  River. 

The  three  Northern  States  bordering  on  the  Ohio,  contemplated  by 
the  Ordinance  of  1787,  had  now  been  admitted,  with  east  and  west 
boundaries  as  originally  provided,  but  in  no  one  case  had  their  north- 
ern boundaries  been  in  accord  with  the  line  of  1787,  which  was  lati- 
tude 410  37'.  That  line  would  have  cut  off  each  of  these  States  from 
the  Lakes.  Had  it  been  adhered  to  it  would  have  materially  changed 
the  history  of  the  nation  by  sundering  the  natural  geographical  con- 
nections of  these  States  with  the  East  by  way  of  the  Lakes,  turning 
their  commerce,  interests,  and  sympathies  toward  the  Gulf. 

Alabama  and  Mississippi.  ( See  Map , 1820.)  On  the  alternate 
years  with  the  admission  of  the  States  north  of  the  Ohio  there  were 
added  at  the  south  the  two  States  of  Mississippi  (1817)  and  Alabama 
(1819),  made  by  dividing  Mississippi  Territory  by  a north  and  south 
line  equally  distant  from  the  Georgia  line,  and  the  Perdido  River  on 
the  east,  and  the  Mississippi  and  Pearl  Rivers  on  the  west. 

The  Territory  of  Arkansas  in  1819  was  taken  from  the  Territory 
of  Missouri,  and  comprises  the  section  on  the  west  bank  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi between  latitudes  330  and  36°  30'  west,  to  meridian  940  42'. 

Maine.  ( See  Map , 1820).  In  1820  the  District  of  Maine  applied 


HISTORICAL  GEOGRAPHY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


35 


for  permission  to  organize  a State  government.  The  Act  admitting  it 
was  part  of  the  famous  Missouri  Compromise.  The  State,  as  con- 
stituted, contained  that  part  of  Massachusetts  embraced  in  the  Sir 
Gorges  grant,  between  the  Piscataqua  and  Kennebec  Rivers,  extend- 
ing one  hundred  and  twenty  miles  inland,  and  the  Sir  Alexander 
grant  (Pemaquid),  between  the  Kennebec  and  the  St.  Croix  Rivers, 
and  “ that  portion  west  of  the  River  Kennebec  and  north  of  a right 
line  connecting  the  confluence  of  the  Kennebec  and  Dead  Rivers  with 
Lake  Umbagog.  This  appears  never  to  have  been  in  the  Province 
of  Maine,  or  Massachusetts  Bay,  or  State  of  Massachusetts.”  1 

Missouri.  ( See  Map,  1830.)  In  1819  an  Enabling  Act  was 
brought  forward  for  the  State  of  Missouri,  but  an  amendment  pro- 
hibiting slavery  being  attached,  it  failed  to  pass.  This  opened  the 
great  Slavery  Contest.  Professor  Alexander  Johnston  thus  aptly  de- 
scribes the  situation  : “While  the  Union  was  confined  to  the  fringe 
of  States  along  the  Atlantic  coast  the  slavery  question  was  not 
troublesome  ; and  it  was  at  first  possible  to  unite  the  representatives 
of  both  sections  in  the  admission  of  new  States  by  using  the  Ohio  as 
a dividing  line  between  the  States  in  which  slavery  should  be  pro- 
hibited and  those  in  which  it  should  be  allowed.  But  when  the  tide 
of  emigration  had  crossed  the  Mississippi  and  began  to  fill  the  Louis- 
iana Purchase,  conflict  was  inevitable,  for  the  line  was  lost.” 

Maine  having  applied  for  admission  was  refused  unless  Missouri 
was  admitted  with  slaverv.  The  Missouri  Compromise  of  1820  was 
effected,  and  an  act  passed  permitting  Missouri  to  form  a Constitu- 
tion and  to  admittance  with  the  following  boundaries  : East  the  Mis- 
sissippi, west  the  meridian  940  42'  passing  through  the  confluence  of 
the  Missouri  and  Kansas  Rivers,  north  parallel  40°  30',  south  parallel 
36°  30',  the  famous  line  north  of  which  the  compromise  prohibited 
slavery  in  any  other  territory  forever.  The  Act  of  admission  bears 
date  August  10,  1821.  In  1846,  on  the  admission  of  Iowa,  the  section 

1 “ If  this  view  be  correct,  then  this  tract  was  a parcel  of  the  original  public  land  of 
the  United  States,  as  defined  by  treaty  with  Great  Britain.” — Francis  R.  Walker,  in 
Seventh  U.  S.  Census. 


36  HISTORICAL  GEOGRAPHY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


between  the  above  west  line,  the  Iowa  line,  and  the  Missouri  River 
was  added. 

Territory  of  Florida.  On  the  signing  of  the  Treaty  with  Spain  in 
1821  and  the  acquisition  of  East  and  West  Florida  it  was  organized 
into  the  Territory  of  Florida  with  the  limits  of  the  present  State. 

Michigan  Territory.  (See  Maps,  1820-1830.)  Michigan  Territory, 
when  first  created  in  1805,  embraced  the  section  between  Lakes  Erie, 
Huron,  and  Michigan  On  the  entrance  of  Illinois  as  a State,  in  1818, 
all  that  portion  of  Illinois  Territory  north  of  420  30'  extending  west 
to  the  Mississippi  was  added  to  Michigan  Territory.  In  1834,  when 
Missouri  Territory  lost  its  nominal  existence,  all  that  portion  north 
of  the  State  of  Missouri,  west  to  the  Missouri  and  White  Earth  Rivers 
and  north  to  the  international  line  was  also  added. 

State  of  Michigan.  (SA?  Map,  1840.)  In  1835  the  people  of 
Michigan,  in  convention  assembled,  formed  and  ratified  a Constitu- 
tion and  applied  for  admission.  It  was  admitted  June  15,  1836,  with 
its  present  limits,  a strip  from  its  southern  border  on  Lake  Erie,  to 
conform  with  the  Indiana  line,  being  given  to  Ohio,  and  the  upper 
peninsular  or  Lake  Superior  country  being  given  to  it  in  compen- 
sation. The  first  settlement  in  the  west  made  by  the  French  was  in 
this  State  (1629)  but  owing  to  the  shorter  lines  of  travel  from  the 
Atlantic  States  the  States  along  the  Ohio  filled  more  rapidly,  and 
thus  it  happened  that  two  hundred  years  elapsed  before  Michigan 
took  her  place  as  a State  in  the  Union. 

Arkansas.  The  same  Act  (June  15,  1836)  that  admitted  Mich- 
igan as  a free  State  also  admitted  Arkansas  as  a slave  State  with  the 
same  limits  as  when  a Territory. 

Territory  of  Wisconsin.  (See  Map,  1840.)  On  the  admission  of 
Michigan  as  a State  the  balance  of  the  Territory  was  formed  into 
Wisconsin  Territory  (1836)  but  two  years  later  (1838)  Iowa  Terri- 
tory was  set  off,  comprising  that  portion  west  of  the  Mississippi  and 
east  of  the  Missouri.  In  1846  Iowa  Territory  was  reduced  by  the 
formation  of  the  State  of  Iowa,  and  in  1848  it  was  united  with  a part 
of  Wisconsin  Territory  in  forming  Minnesota  Territory. 


HISTORICAL  GEOGRAPHY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


37 


Indian  Country.  [West  half  of  the  U.  S.  in  1840.)  As  the  States 
east  of  the  Mississippi  filled  up,  the  Government  adopted  the  plan  of 
transporting  the  Indian  tribes  to  specified  reservations  west  of  the 
Mississippi.  By  Act  of  June  30,  1834,  to  regulate  trade  with  the 
Indians,  all  the  territory  west  of  the  Mississippi  not  included  in 
the  States  of  Missouri  and  Territory  of  Arkansas  was  denominated 
the  Indian  Country,  a geographical  but  not  an  organized  political 
division.  From  this  wide  area,  as  emigration  pressed  westward, 
Territories  have  successively  been  formed  until,  on  the  formation  of 
Kansas  and  Nebraska  in  1854,  it  was  limited  to  the  present  limits  of 
the  Indian  Territory,  which  has  no  organized  territorial  government. 

Iowa  ( Map , 1850),  without  authorization  by  Congress,  formed 
a Constitution,  applied  and  was  admitted  in  1845,  bounded  east 
bv  the  Mississippi,  south  by  parallel  40°  30',  west  by  a continuation 
of  the  meridian  drawn  through  the  confluence  of  the  Missouri  and 
Kansas  Rivers,  north  by  the  440  parallel  from  the  Mississippi  to  the 
Minnesota  River,  thence  up  that  river  until  it  intercepts  the  western 
meridian  line.  Disputes  arising,  however,  regarding  its  boundaries, 
a new  Constitution  was  formed,  accepted,  and  the  State  finally  ad- 
mitted, December  28,  1846,  with  its  present  limits  extending  to  the 
Missouri  River  in  compensation  for  territory  lost  on  its  northern  bor- 
der. North  line  is  430  30'. 

Florida.  The  same  Act  admitting  Iowa  March  3,  1845,  also  ad- 
mitted Florida,  thereby  keeping  the  balance  between  free  and  slave 
States. 

Wisconsin.  ( See  Map , 1850.)  The  last  of  the  five  States  contem- 
plated in  the  original  Ordinance  of  1787  was  admitted  May  29,  1848. 
According  to  that  ordinance  her  northwest  boundary  should  have  ex- 
tended to  the  source  of  the  Mississippi  and  the  international  bound- 
ary line,  but  geographical  influences  were  at  work.  The  line  was 
drawn  up  the  St.  Croix,  and  the  inhabitants  who  had  come  up  and 
settled  on  both  sides  of  the  Upper  Mississippi,  whose  interests  were 
one,  were  united  politically  as  well  as  socially. 

Minnesota  Territory.  On  the  admission  of  Wisconsin  in  1848  the 


38  HISTORICAL  GEOGRAPHY-  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


balance  of  the  Territory  was  united  with  that  of  Iowa  Territory,  and 
the  whole  named  Minnesota  Territory,  extending  from  the  Wisconsin 
line  to  the  Missouri  River  and  from  the  Iowa  line  (430  30')  to  the 
national  boundary. 

Texas.  {See  Maps,  1840  a?r$.  1850.)  In  1844  a resolution  passed 
Congress  to  admit  Texas,  prohibiting  slavery  in  States  formed  from 
the  Territory  of  Texas  north  of  the  Missouri  compromise  line,  36°  30', 
and  leaving  it  to  the  people  themselves  to  decide  whether  it  should 
exist  south  of  that  line.  Texas  accepted  the  annexation  both  by  her 
own  Congress  and  by  a popular  convention.  On  December  29,  1845, 
Texas  became  a State  of  the  Union  with  the  limits  of  the  Republic 
of  Texas,  bounded  east  and  north  by  the  Treaty  line  with  Spain  in 
1821  to  the  source  of  the  Arkansas  River,  on  the  south  and  west  by 
the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  the  Rio  Grande  to  its  source,  and  thence  due 
north  to  the  junction  of  the  Arkansas  River.  It  comprised  parts  of 
the  present  States  of  Kansas  and  Colorado,  of  the  Territory  of  New 
Mexico  and  “ No  Man’s  Land.”  In  1850  such  portions  were  ceded 
to  the  United  States  for  a consideration.  Southern  statesmanship, 
by  colonization,  revolution,  and  annexation,  thus  added  to  the  South- 
ern group  of  States  territory  to  equalize  that  acquired  by  the  Louis- 
iana purchase  lying  north  of  36°  30',  in  which  by  the  compromise  of 
1820  slavery  was  not  to  exist.  Afterward,  on  the  acquisition  of 
Oregon,  the  Mexican  War  was  provoked  and  the  latitudinal  limits  of 
the  Southern  group  carried  to  the  Pacific  Coast.  Nevertheless, 
Texas  was  the  last  Slave  State  added  to  the  Union. 

Territory  of  Oregon.  ( See  Map,  1854.)  In  1846,  after  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  international  boundary  line  a bill  was  offered  in  Con- 
gress to  organize  all  that  portion  west  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  be- 
tween parallels  420  and  490  into  the  Territory  of  Oregon.  Because 
the  Wilmot  Proviso  1 was  attached  to  the  bill,  it  was  not  until  1848 
that  such  organization  was  accomplished. 

1 The  Wilmot  Proviso,  named  after  Mr.  Wilmot,  Member  of  Congress  from  Pennsyl- 
vania, was  a bill  providing  that  the  provision  regarding  slavery  in  the  ordinance  of  1787 
whereby  “neither  slavery  nor  involuntary  servitude  shall  ever  exist  in  any  part  of  said 


HISTORICAL  GEOGRAPHY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


39 


California.  ( See  Map,  1854.)  In  1849  Congress  began  legisla- 
tion looking  to  the  establishment  of  settled  governments  for  the  ter- 
ritory acquired  from  Mexico.  A fierce  contest  arose  over  the  slavery 
question.  The  next  year,  under  what  is  known  as  the  “ Compromise 
of  1850,”  an  omnibus  bill  was  passed,  providing  governments  for  Cali- 
fornia, Utah,  and  New  Mexico,  leaving  to  each  the  right  to  decide 
upon  the  slavery  question  for  themselves.  The  population  of  Cali- 
fornia-had increased  so  rapidly  during  the  excitement  following  the 
discovery  of  gold  in  1849  that  the  people  called  a convention,  formed 
a State  Government  and,  adopting  a Constitution  prohibiting  slavery, 
were  admitted  September  9,  1850,  without  having  been  under  a Ter- 
ritorial government.  Its  prescribed  limits  are  the  420  parallel  from 
the  Pacific  Ocean  to  the  120°  meridian,  thence  south  on  said  meridian 
to  the  thirty-ninth  parallel  of  latitude,  thence  by  a straight  line  to 
the  intersection  of  the  thirty-fifth  parallel  and  the  Colorado  River, 
thence  down  that  river  to  the  mouth  of  the  Gila  River,  thence  west 
by  the  Mexican  boundary  line  to  the  Pacific  Ocean. 

The  Territory  of  Utah  (see  Map , 1854)  was  organized,  embracing 
all  west  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  received  of  Mexico  between  paral- 
lels 370  and  420  to  the  California  line.  Subsequently  Nevada  and 
parts  of  Colorado  and  Wyoming  were  taken  from  it. 

The  Territory  of  New  Mexico  was  organized,  embracing  all  that 
portion  received  of  Mexico  between  the  Rio  Grande  and  the  Cali- 
fornia line  south  of  the  thirty-seventh  parallel  of  latitude,  and  also 
that  portion  of  the  Texas  cession  of  1850  bounded  east  by  the  103° 
meridian  and  north  by  the  thirty-eighth  parallel,  west  by  the  Rio 
Grande  and  south  by  the  thirty-second  parallel.  To  this  in  1853  was 
added  the  strip  south  of  the  Gila  River  acquired  by  the  Gadsden 
purchase. 

Kansas  and  Nebraska  Territory.  (See  Map , 1854.)  Emigration 
was  now  pushing  very  rapidly  westward.  Long  trains  of  settlers 
were  moving  into  the  Arkansas  and  Platte  Valleys,  and  through  them 

territory  except  for  crime,  whereof  the  party  shall  first  be  duly  convicted  ” should  apply 
to  all  newly  acquired  territory. 


40 


HISTORICAL  GEOGRAPHY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


to  Oregon  and  California.  In  1851  the  inhabitants  of  the  Platte 
country  applied  for  organization  as  a Territory,  but  the  request  was 
not  acted  upon.  In  1852  a bill  was  introduced  into  Congress  to  the 
same  effect.  Being  on  the  eve  of  a presidential  election  it  again 
failed.  In  1854  (January  23),  the  Southern  or  slavery  element,  being 
sure  of  its  strength,  introduced  the  Kansas-Nebraska  Bill,  providing 
for  two  territories  between  the  Missouri  River  and  the  Rocky  Moun- 
tains ; one  west  of  Missouri  between  parallels  370  and  40°  to  be 
called  Kansas,  and  the  other  north  of  latitude  40°  to  be  called  Ne- 
braska. The  bill  also  repudiated  as  unconstitutional  and  repealed 
the  Missouri  Compromise  of  1820,  whereby  slavery  was  forever  pro- 
hibited north  of  latitude  36°  30',  and  provided  that  hereafter  any  Ter- 
ritory was  free  to  admit  or  exclude  slavery  as  its  inhabitants  saw  fit. 
The  bill  passed  and  the  Territories  were  organized.  On  the  forma- 
tion of  Dakota  (see  Map , 1861)  and  Colorado,  Nebraska  ceded  to  the 
former  all  north  of  parallel  430,  and  to  the  latter  the  section  between 
latitude  40°  and4i°  and  meridians  102°  and  106°,  receiving,  however, 
a section  west  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  from  Washington  and  Utah, 
between  latitudes  410  and  430  west  to  the  1 io°  meridian.  On  the 
formation  of  Idaho  in  1863  all  north  of  the  forty-first  parallel  and 
west  of  the  104°  meridian  was  given  to  that  Territory. 

Washington  Territory.  (See  Map , 1861.)  In  1853  Oregon  Ter- 
ritory was  divided.  That  portion  north  of  the  Columbia  River  and 
parallel  46°,  and  east  of  the  Lewis  River  and  meridian  1170,  extend- 
ing to  the  international  boundary  (490)  and  the  Rocky  Mountains,  was 
organized  into  Washington  Territory.  Subsequently  this  section  was 
also  divided  ; all  east  of  the  1170  meridian  being  included  in  Idaho 
when  it  was  organized  (1863). 

Oregon,  in  1858,  through  a convention  organized  under  direction 
of  the  Territorial  Legislature,  formed  a Constitution  which  was  ac- 
cepted by  Congress  and  February  14,  1859,  it  became  a State. 

Minnesota,  with  limits  consisting  of  so  much  of  the  Territory  ly- 
ing east  of  the  Red  River  of  the  North,  had,  with  the  extension  of 
railways,  been  rapidly  increasing  its  population  until  now  she  was 


HISTORICAL  GEOGRAPHY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


41 


entitled  to  admission  as  a State.  A Constitution  prohibiting  slavery 
was  formed  and  the  State  admitted,  May  n,  1858. 

Kansas.  ( See  Maps , 1854-1861.)  Upon  the  organization  of  the 
Territory  in  1854,  under  an  act  leaving  the  slavery  question  to  the 
decision  of  the  Territorial  Legislature,  a long  struggle  began,  most 
bitter,  as  it  was  the  last  legal  contest  to  establish  slavery  in  new 
territory.  In  1858  Congress  passed  a bill  admitting  Kansas  as  a 
State  under  the  Lecompton  Constitution,  providing,  however,  that 
the  clause  making  slavery  legal  should  be  again  submitted  to  the 
people.  In  July,  1859,  the  representatives  of  the  people,  in  conven 
tion  at  Wyandot,  formed  and  adopted  a new  Constitution  prohibiting 
slavery.  The  slavery  party  now  declared  that  neither  Congress  nor 
Territorial  Legislatures  had  a right  to  prohibit  slavery,  and  the  ques- 
tion was  carried  into  the  presidential  election  of  i860.  The  result  of 
the  election  being  in  favor  of  the  anti-slavery  party  the  Southern 
members  withdrew  from  Congress.  Congress  then  admitted  Kansas 
as  a free  State  by  act  bearing  date  January  29,  1861,  with  a western 
limit  of  the  102°  meridian. 

Colorado  Territory.  The  same  Congress  (1861)  that  admitted 
Kansas  organized  also  the  Territory  of  Colorado,  consisting  of  por- 
tions of  the  Territories  of  Kansas,  New  Mexico,  Nebraska,  and  Utah, 
lying  on  both  sides  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  between  parallels  370 
and  410,  and  meridians  102°  and  109°. 

Dakota  Territory  (see  Maps , 1861-1870)  was  also  made  in  1861. 
It  included  all  of  Nebraska  Territory  north  from  parallel  430  and 
that  portion  of  Minnesota  Territory  west  of  the  Red  River  of  the 
North  which  was  not  organized  into  a State  Government  in  1858. 

In  1863  part  of  this  large  area,  viz. : that  portion  west  of  meridian 
104°  was  set  off  to  form  the  Territory  of  Idaho.  The  following  year 
(1864)  she  received  again  from  Idaho  the  portion  between  parallels 
43°and45°and  meridians  104°  and  iii°  and  an  additional  section 
between  parallels  410  and  430  and  meridians  104°  and  no°  only  to 
transfer  them  again  in  1868  to  Wyoming  Territory. 

Nevada  (see  Map , 1870)  was  organized  as  a Territory  in  1861, 


42 


HISTORICAL  GEOGRAPHY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


and  comprised  that  portion  of  Utah  west  of  meridian  1150.  On 
October  31,  1864,  it  was  admitted  as  a State,  when  to  its  Territorial 
limits  was  added  on  the  east  another  degree  of  longitude  and  a sec- 
tion from  the  Territory  of  Arizona  bounded  north  by  the  370  paral- 
lel, south  and  west  by  the  California  line,  east  by  the  Colorado  River 
and  meridian  1140. 

The  Southern  Confederacy.  {See  Map.)  When  the  representa- 
tives of  the  slave-holding  States  withdrew  from  Congress  in  r86i,  the 
States  they  represented  proceeded  at  once  to  pass  acts  of  secession 
from  the  Federal  Union  and  to  establish  a Southern  Confederacy. 
Eleven  States,  comprising  an  immense  territory,  passed  Acts  of 
Secession.  The  Constitution  recognizing  no  power  of  States  to  se- 
cede, Congress  proclaimed  these  States  in  rebellion  and  proceeded  to 
employ  coercive  measures.  West  Virginia  (see  Map , 1863)  counties 
refused  to  be  bound  by  the  Ordinance  of  Secession  passed  by  Vir- 
ginia. Forming  a legislature,  which  they  claimed  to  be  the  real  ex- 
ecutive body,  they  gave  the  assent  required  by  the  Constitution  to 
the  organization  of  a new  State,  and  applied  for  admission  as  West 
Virginia.  Congress  recognized  their  action  and  the  State  was  ad- 
mitted June  19,  r863. 

On  January  1,  1863,  the  Emancipation  Proclamation,  issued  as  a 
military  necessity,  proclaiming  freedom  to  all  slaves,  went  into  effect, 
and  it  was  confirmed  forever  by  an  Amendment  to  the  Constitution 
(XHIth)  adopted  and  ratified  in  1865.  Two  more  Amendments 
were  afterward  adopted  to  protect  the  rights  of  the  freedmen  and 
admitting  them  to  citizenship. 

After  the  fall  of  the  Confederacy  the  Government  proceeded  to 
promote  efficient  governments  for  the  insurrectionary  States,  stipu- 
lating how  they  might  be  re-admitted  to  the  active  exercise  of  State- 
hood on  the  ratification  of  Constitutions  accepting  the  new  Constitu- 
tional Amendments.  Tennessee  was  the  first  re-admitted,  July  24, 
1866.  Arkansas  the  next,  June  22,  1868.  North  and  South  Carolina, 
Louisiana  and  Florida  followed  during  the  year,  but  Virginia,  Mis- 
sissippi, Texas,  and  Georgia  did  not  follow  until  1870. 


HISTORICAL  GEOGRAPHY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


43 


Arizona  Territory  [see  Map,  1S70)  was  organized  as  a Territory  Feb- 
ruary 24,  1863.  As  first  constituted  it  embraced  all  that  portion  of 
the  Territory  of  New  Mexico  lying  north  of  the  Gila  River  and  west  of 
the  109°  meridian,  subsequently  that  portion  of  the  Mesilla  Valley 
south  of  the  Gila,  west  of  the  same  meridian  was  included.  On  the 
admission  of  Nevada  as  a State  in  1864,  it  lost  the  small  section  west 
of  the  Colorado  River  and  meridian’i  140,  which  was  included  in  that 
new  State. 

Idaho  Territory.  Discoveries  of  gold  in  the  Rocky  and  Bitter 
Root  Mountains,  in  1862,  caused  an  influx  of  population  and  the 
formation  of  a Territorial  government,  March  3,  1S63.  Idaho,  as 
the  new  Territory  was  named,  was  taken  from  the  Territories  of  Da- 
kota and  Washington.  Its  original  boundaries  were  : north  the  inter- 
national line  (490)  from  meridians  104°  to  1170,  thence  south  by  merid- 
ian 1170  to  parallel  420,  thence  east  to  meridian  no,  thence  south  to 
parallel  41  °,  thence  east  to  meridian  104°,  thence  to  latitude  490. 
When  the  Territory  of  Montana  was  formed  in  1864,  it  was  wholly 
taken  from  this  Territory,  and  the  same  year  the  balance  of  her  terri- 
tory east  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  was  reunited  to  Dakota,  while  on 
the  formation  of  Wyoming  in  1868,  she  contributed  also  a small  sec- 
tion west  of  the  mountains  and  east  of  the  in0  meridian.  As  now 
constituted  it  lies  between  the  Rocky  and  Bitter  Root  Mountains 
and  the  1170  meridian  and  stretches  from  parallel  420  to  49 °. 

Montana  Territory,  taken  wholly  from  Idaho,  was  organized 
under  a Territorial  government,  May  26,  1864.  It  is  bounded 
north  by  the  international  boundary  line,  east  by  the  104°  meridian, 
south  by  the  45°  parallel  to  the  in°  meridian,  southward  on  that 
meridian  to  its  junction  with  the  Rock)r  Mountains  (about  40°),  west 
by  the  Rocky  and  Bitter  Root  Mountains  and  meridian  1160  to  par- 
allel 490. 

Wyom  ing  Territory.  On  July  25,  1868,  Congress  passed  an  Act 
forming  a new  Territory  called  Wyoming,  lying  between  parallels  of 
latitude  410  to  450  and  from  meridians  104°  to  m°,  from  portions  of 
Nebraska,  Dakota,  Idaho,  and  Utah. 


44 


HISTORICAL  GEOGRAPHY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


In  the  Northwest  corner  of  the  Territory  is  the  Yellowstone  Park, 
a National  Reservation. 

Nebraska.  (See  Map,  1870.)  Though  formed  as  a Territory  at 
the  same  time  as  Kansas,  it  did  not  become  a State  until  much  later. 
First,  the  slavery  question  turned  emigration  to  the  more  southerly 
State,  then  the  war  stopped  it  almost  entirely.  After  the  completion 
of  the  Central  Pacific  Railroad,  however,  the  fertile  lands  of  the 
Platte  River  attracted  settlers,  and  a prosperous  Commonwealth  ap- 
plied for  admission  as  a State.  By  Act  of  Congress  it  became  a 
State,  March  1,  1867,  the  bill  being  passed  over  the  President’s 
(Johnson)  veto.  As  constituted  it  has  the  Missouri  River  for  its 
easterly  boundary,  the  104°  meridian  for  its  western  line,  the  430  par- 
allel on  the  north,  and  the  40°  parallel  on  the  south  from  the  Mis- 
souri River  to  the  102°  meridian,  thence  the  line  runs  north  to  the  410 
parallel,  thence  west  to  the  104°  meridian. 

Colorado.  The  discovery  of  gold  east  of  the  Rocky  Mountains 
quickly  brought  a population  entitling  Colorado  to  admission  as 
“The  Centennial  State.”  Congress  passed  an  Enabling  Act.  A 
State  Constitution  was  formed,  submitted,  and  ratified  by  a popular 
vote  July  1,  1876.  As  provided  in  the  Act,  the  President,  one  month 
later,  August  1,  1876,  announced  the  admission  of  Colorado  to  the 
Union  without  further  legislation. 

Washington,  Montana,  North  and  South  Dakota  (See  Map , 
1890),  with  large  and  newly  developed  lumber,  mining,  and  agricul- 
tural interests,  now  attained  a population  capable  of  self-government, 
and  applied  for  admission.  This  was  not  granted,  however,  until 
after  the  Presidential  election  of  1888.  An  Enabling  Act  was  passed 
by  Congress,  February,  1889,  whereby  the  Territories  of  Washington, 
Montana,  and  Dakota  were  authorized  to  organize  as  States,  July  1, 
1889  ; Washington  and  Montana  with  their  present  limits,  Dakota  to 
be  divided  into  North  and  South  Dakota  by  an  east  and  west  line  on 
the  seventh  range,  State  Survey.  North  Dakota  and  South  Dakota 
were  admitted  as  States,  November  2,  1889  ; Montana,  November  8, 
1889,  and  Washington,  as  the  forty-second  State,  November  n,  1889 


HISTORICAL  GEOGRAPHY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  45 


Oklahoma  Territory  (see  Map  1900).  By  Act  of  Congress,  May 
2,  1S90,  all  that  portion  of  Indian  Territory,  except  so  much  of  the 
same  as  is  actually  occupied  by  the  five  civilized  tribes,  and  except 
the  unoccupied  part  of  the  Cherokee  outlet,  together  with  that  por- 
tion of  the  United  States  known  as  the  Public  Land  Strip,  was 
erected  into  a temporary  government  by  the  name  of  the  Territory 
of  Oklahoma.  It  is  bounded  by  a line  drawn  as  follows  : Commenc- 
ing at  a point  where  the  98°  meridian  crosses  the  Red  River,  thence 
by  said  meridian  to  the  point  where  it  crosses  the  Canadian  River, 
thence  along  said  river  to  the  west  line  of  the  Seminole  Country, 
thence  along  said  line  to  the  north  fork  of  the  Canadian  River, 
thence  down  said  river  to  the  west  line  of  the  Creek  Country,  thence 
along  said  west  and  north  line  of  the  Creek  Country  to  the  96°  meri- 
dian, thence  northward  by  said  meridian  to  the  southern  boundary 
line  of  Kansas,  thence  west  along  said  line  to  the  Arkansas  River, 
thence  down  said  river  to  the  north  line  of  the  land  occupied  by  the 
Ponca  Indians,  from  which  point  the  line  runs  so  as  to  include  all 
the  lands  occupied  by  the  Ponca,  Tonkawa,  Otoe,  Missouria,  and  the 
Pawnee  tribes  of  Indians  until  it  strikes  the  south  line  of  the  Chero- 
kee outlet,  which  it  follows  westward  to  the  east  line  of  the  State  of 
Texas,  hence  by  the  boundary  line  of  the  State  of  Texas  to  the  point 
of  beginning.  The  Public  Land  Strip  is  bounded  east  by  the  ioo° 
meridian,  south  by  Texas,  west  by  New'  Mexico,  north  by  Colorado 
and  Kansas. 

It  is  provided  that  whenever  the  interest  of  the  Cherokee  Indians 
in  the  land  known  as  the  Cherokee  Outlet  shall  be  extinguished,  or 
whenever  any  Indian  nation  or  tribe  owning  any  other  lands  in  Indian 
Territory  shall  signify  to  the  President  of  the  United  States,  in  a 
legal  manner,  its  assent  that  such  lands  shall  so  become  a part  of  said 
Territory  of  Oklahoma,  the  President  shall  thereupon  make  procla- 
mation to  that  effect. 

Idaho,  Wyoming,  and  Utah  were  admitted  as  States,  the  two  former, 
July  4,  1891  ; the  latter,  January  4,  1896,  making  the  present  number  of 
States  forty-five. 


46  HISTORICAL  GEOGRAPHY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


INSULAR  TERRITORY  AND  POSSESSIONS. 

Hawaii  with  its  subsidiary  islands,  was  annexed  to  the  United  States 
July  6,  1898,  the  consent  of  the  government  of  the  Hawaiian  Republic 
having  been  previously  expressed.  The  total  area  of  the  group  is  6,640 
sq.  m.  The  population  in  1897  was  109,020,  about  one-third  native,  the 
rest  chiefly  Japanese,  Chinese,  and  Portuguese.  There  are  3,086  British, 
and  2,250  Americans.  Honolulu  is  the  capital,  with  a population  of 
28,861.  A territorial  government  is  about  to  be  organized,  when  the 
islands  will  be  known  as  the  Territory  of  Hawaii. 

Tutuila  and  its  attendant  islets,  belonging  to  the  Samoan  group,  in 
the  South  Pacific,  became  the  property  of  the  United  States  in  1899,  by 
a tri-partite  treaty  between  this  government,  Germany,  and  Great  Britain. 
Although  covering  only  fifty-four  square  miles,  with  a population  of  4,000, 
Tutuila  is  a possession  of  great  value  because  of  its  remarkable  harbor, 
said  to  be  the  best  perhaps  in  the  Pacific  Ocean,  and  of  capacity  to 
accommodate  the  entire  United  States  navy. 

Porto  Rico,  the  Philippines,  and  Cuam,  as  a result  of  the  war  with 
Spain  in  1898,  were  ceded  to  the  United  States  by  the  Treaty  of  Peace 
which  was  concluded  at  Paris,  Dec.  10,  1899. 

By  the  terms  of  the  same  treaty  Spain  relinquished  her  claim  of  sov- 
ereignty over  her  title  to  Cuba,  and  that  island  has  since  been  occupied 
under  military  control  by  the  United  States  for  the  protection  of  life  and 
property  until  an  independent  government  may  be  established. 

Porto  Rico  is  the  most  eastern  of  the  Greater  Antilles,  in  the  West 
Indies,  a beautiful  and  fertile  island,  with  a population  of  900,000.  San 
Juan,  a city  of  25,000  inhabitants,  is  the  capital.  The  island  is  governed 
at  present  as  a military  department  of  the  United  States. 

The  Philippine  Islands  constitute  the  greatest  archipelago  on  the 
globe,  lying  some  six  hundred  miles  off  the  southern  coast  of  Asia.  The 
cession  was  made  on  the  payment  to  Spain  by  this  government  of  $20,- 
000,000.  A rebellion  against  the  sovereignty  of  the  United  States,  begun 
in  Feb.,  1899,  developed  into  a desolating  war  which  lasted  throughout 
the  year.  [Indeed,  quiet  has  not  yet  (October,  1900,)  been  perfectly  re- 
stored, but  the  insurgent  forces  have  been  scattered,  and  nothing  remains 
of  organized  insurrection.]  The  population  of  the  islands  is  variously 
estimated  from  seven  to  ten  millions.  The  permanent  form  of  govern- 
ment for  the  Philippines  remains  to  be  determined. 

Cuam,  the  principal  island  of  the  Ladrone  group,  is  small,  but  of 
much  importance,  both  military  and  commercial. 

These  new  possessions  have  so  greatly  enlarged  the  domain  of  the 
United  States  that  our  country  now  ranks  fifth  in  extent  of  territory 
among  the  nations  of  the  earth. 


INDEX. 


Alabama,  34. 

Alaska,  25. 

Arizona,  43. 

Arkansas  Territory,  34. 

State  of,  36. 

Augusta  County  (Va.),  12,  13. 

California,  39. 

Canada,  2,  15,  17. 

Carolana,  9. 

Carolina,  North,  11,  27. 

South,  11,  27,  29. 
Cherokee  Nation,  16,  17. 

Colorado  Territory,  41. 

State  of,  44. 

Columbia,  District  of,  30. 
Confederacy  of  1775-1787,  26. 

Southern,  42. 

Connecticut,  8,  13,  15,  18,  27,  28. 
Culpepper’s  Grant,  9. 

Dakota  Territory,  41. 

State  of  North,  44. 

“ South,  44. 

Declaration  of  Independence,  20. 

Rights,  20. 
Declaratory  Act,  20. 

Delaware,  10,  n,  13. 

England,  5,  16,  17. 


Gadsden  Purchase,  25. 
Georgia,  11,  17,  27,  32. 

Gorges  Grant,  8,  14. 

Guam,  46. 

Hampshire  Grants,  18. 
Hawaii,  46. 

Idaho,  43,  45. 

Illinois  Country,  15. 

County,  21. 

Territory,  33. 

State  of,  34. 

Indian  Country,  37. 

Territory,  37. 

Indiana  Territory,  15. 

State  of,  34. 

Iowa  Territory,  36. 

State  of,  37. 

Iroquois  Nation,  6,  13,  16,  17. 

Kansas  Territory,  39. 

State  of,  41. 

Kentucky,  County  of,  18. 

State  of,  31. 

King’s  Prerogative,  19. 

Land  Cessions,  28.  29,  32. 

Claims,  26,  27. 

London  Company,  5. 
Louisiana  Province,  15,  22,  23. 
District  of,  33. 
Territory,  33. 

State  of,  33. 


Federal  Constitution,  30. 

Florida,  Spanish  and  English,  2,  16,  17,  21, 

24- 


Territory,  36. 
State  of,  37. 
France,  5,  15,  6,  22. 


Maine,  District  of,  7,  8,  21,  22. 
State  of,  34,  35. 


48 


INDEX. 


Maryland,  io,  13. 

Massachusetts,  7,  14,  20,  26,  28. 
Mexican  Cession,  25. 

Mexico,  3. 

Michigan  Territory,  33,  36. 

State  of,  36. 

Minnesota  Territory,  37. 

State  of,  40. 

Mississippi  Territory,  32. 

State  of,  34. 
Missouri  Territory,  34. 

State  of,  35. 

Montana  Territory,  43. 

State  of,  44. 

Navigation  Laws,  19. 
Nebraska  Territory,  39. 

State  of,  44. 

Nevada,  41. 

New  England,  5,  7. 

New  France,  15. 

New  Hampshire,  7,  14. 

New  Jersey,  10,  13. 

New  Mexico,  3,  39. 

New  Netherland,  6. 

New  Sweden,  6. 

New  York,  10,  13,  27,  28. 

North  Carolina,  11,  27. 

North  Dakota,  44. 

Northwest  Territory,  29. 

Nova  Scotia,  3,  14,  21. 

Ohio,  16,  32. 

Oklahoma  Territory,  45. 

Oregon  Country,  23,  24. 
Territory,  38. 

State  of,  40. 

Orleans  Territory,  33. 

Paris,  First  Treaty  of,  16. 

Second  Treaty  of,  21. 
Pemaquid,  7,  14. 

Pennsylvania,  12,  18. 


Philippines,  46. 

Plymouth  Council,  5,  8. 

Colony,  5,  7,  14. 
Property  Line,  17. 

Public  Domain,  Original,  29. 
Porto  Rico,  46. 

Quebec  Act,  17,  22. 

Province  of,  17. 

Rhode  Island,  8,  14. 

South  Carolina,  ri,  27,  29. 
South  Dakota,  44. 

Southern  Confederacy,  42. 
Southwest  Territory,  29. 

Spain,  3,  16,  21,  22,  23,  24. 

Tennessee,  31. 

Texas,  23,  24,  38. 

Treaty  of  Paris,  First,  16. 

Second,  21. 
with  Spain,  23,  24. 
Mexico,  25. 
France,  22. 

Tutuila,  46. 

Utah,  Territory,  39. 

State  of,  43. 

Vermont,  18,  31. 

Virginia,  5,  9,  12,  18,  27,  28. 

Washington  Territory,  40. 

State  of,  44. 

Westmoreland,  County  of,  18. 
West  Virginia,  42. 

Wisconsin  County,  15. 

Territory,  36. 

State  of,  37. 

Writs  of  Assistance,  20. 
Wyoming,  43,  45. 


Date  Due 


911.73  "13 1H  17348 


